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Keeping our Children a top Priority
Part One
This article was inspired by a morning talk show on the radio. Yes I listen to
radio, more than tv. I want to keep the tv to a minimum in my home so I’ve found
radio to be the easiest way for me to get news without exposing my daughter to
images that she really doesn’t need to see.
I don’t know how many of you listen to radio but
some of the radio talk shows can be very good. Today’s topic was the lack of
parental involvement in our children today. The consensus was that most parents
are too busy trying to keep up with the jones to bother with their children.
They don’t keep tabs on them. They don’t seem to care where or what their kids
are doing. Now I”m going to venture a guess that they really
do care but, and this is a big but, they are too busy working to make money to
buy things and keep working for more things. Now I’m the first to admit that I
buy things I don’t need and I could really work harder to reduce our family’s
debt but that’s not what I”m talking about. I’m going to center on the “big”
things.
My family lives in a modest house by today’s
standards. While a lot of my friends live in houses costing 250,000 or more,
our’s is about 1/3 of that. Why? You wonder? Well even though we didn’t have
kids when we purchased the house we wanted kids and we both knew that I wanted
to be a stay at home mom. Our house is small by today’s standards but it’ll
work. And it is honestly much larger than the house I grew up in. Interesting
how standards change, isn’t it?
Why be a stay at home mom and give up or severely
neglect my career for years on end? Well because I really think it is vitally
important that one parent, doesn’t have to be mom, should be at home all the
time. Kids get into less trouble just by someone being there and if they are an
involved and active parent then trouble is even less likely to occur. I look
forward to spending my afternoons in dance classes, someday picking my girl up
from school, and helping with her homework. I’m going to want to know her
friends. And if I can manage it this will be the house where all the kids hang
out at, when she’s older. Just being available also makes it more likely that
your kid will talk to you when they need to.
Remember though just being present isn’t enough. You’ve got to care. You’ve got
to stay involved. And you’ve got to maintain that relationship with your kids.
We have one car. Though we’re saving diligently
for two. We did have two and I had my dream car a jeep wrangler. Which I sold so
that we could have one fuel efficient family car. So why do so many people have
two and sometimes three cars. All big gas guzzling suv’s?
I think a lot of this is keeping up with the
jones. And it’s hard not to compete. I’ll admit that I sometimes feel
embarrassed that my house isn’t four bedrooms. And oh my gosh we only have one
bathroom!!!! How do we survive? Having one car, when your husband works long
hours, is not easy on a stay at home mom especially in winter when you’re
essentially stuck indoors for months. And our lot is only 100 feet by 60 feet,
most of my friends own an acre of land. Our clothes are not all brand names, and
we try to catch things on sale as often as possible.
It’s odd when I think of how I grew up. It was a
tiny house by today’s standards. My room was 7 by 9 feet you could barely get a
bed and dresser in there. My daughter’s room is 10 by 12 and somehow I still
feel terrible that it’s too small???? Our backyard growing up was only 20 by 50
feet. Now my daughter has twice that and somehow I feel bad that she won’t have
enough room to run around???? What is going on with all of our society today. I
had friends growing up that had to share a room with two other siblings. Today
people look at you strangely if you talk about having your kids sharing a room.
Like you’re torturing them or something?
While I want my daughter to have more than I did
I don’t want her to think that these THINGS are a necessity for having a family.
The things are all blessings but an acre of land, a four bedroom home, and three
cars are NOT a requirement for having a family or having a good family.
Copyright 2007 Kelly Paal
Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting
nationally and internationally. She started her own business Kelly Paal
Photography. She has an educational background in photography, business, and
commercial art. Please visit www.kellypaalphotography.com for more FREE how to
articles.
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