About the Wild Rose, my prairie flower book states, "Native Americans and pioneers ate the hips, flowers, leaves, and new shoots when other food was scarce. Three rose hips are said to contain as much vitamin C as an orange."
*********************
*********************
Vacation Bible School has been fun, and thought-provoking.........as I observe the little children, each with their own unique personality and temperament, and us teachers expecting each one of those little people to conform to our expectations. I could say that some of the kids are totally bratty.......they don't want to sit and listen to a Bible story, or learn songs and actions. But.......are they actually brats?.......or, just being normal 3 and 4-year-olds, not possessing the attention spans needed for what we teachers are expecting of them. They'd be better off running around outdoors expending energy and using their imaginations........(possibly, that goes for the teachers, too.)
*********
Throughout my years of raising kids, and interacting with other parents, and observing parenting styles, I have come to some personal conclusions. One is that little kids need to be allowed to actively play.......alot.......it is their "work", and its how they learn to adjust to the world. Best of all, as little kids play, they use up energy which needs to be used up, so they can get tired enough to sleep for long periods.
***********
I've known parents who-----with all good intentions-----would struggle to make their kids sit and do homework after school, then eat supper and go to bed by 7:00 p.m.!! Often these were the kids who were classified "hyperactive". Well, no wonder......they never had a chance to be active and use up energy! Though I was sometimes frustrated with all the farm chores here over the years, at least we had something to keep the kids actively occupied. On a normal school day, they'd help with evening barn chores (with playing mixed in) from 5 to 7:00 p.m., or later. AFTER that, we'd eat supper, and AFTER that, they would do homework, and fall into bed, well tired out. There wasn't enough energy left in them to produce hyperactivity, or ADD, or whatever else. That is my uneducated guess, anyhow.
*********
Some of the kids at Bible School strive constantly to be the center of attention. Maybe their parents give them constant attention at home. In the past, during my childrearing years, I would notice that some other mothers would allow their kids to continually interrupt adult conversations, and the mother would never say, "Go away and play with the other kids; I'm talking to my friend." No, they would coddle the child, and the child would respond by getting whinier........and you could forget about our adult conversation.......it wasn't going to happen. No boundary was enforced between the parent and child, and the child was missing out on learning an important life lesson.......that the world is NOT all about ME!!
***********
I also knew parents who------with good intentions, I suppose------would tell me how awfully naughty their children were........sometimes within earshot of said children!! And, true to their parent's statement, the children did act bratty.......they lived "down" to their parent's expectations of them! That's one thing I never did.......say out loud that my children were naughty. I might have thought it many times......but, I would never verbalize it. I believe children will be whatever you say they are! (Probably, I'm not much of a Christian, either, for I balk at telling anyone, "You're a sinner", even though according to what I've been taught, everyone is a sinner.)
***********
And, my goodness, when I was a kid, if I heard them once from my mother, I heard them a thousand times.......these famous lines of hers (which I later would spout after becoming a mother myself..........it is said that we women "become our mothers", and, oh, horrors!.....it is so true!!!):
"GET OUTSIDE AND FIND SOMETHING TO DO!!!"
"STOP CRYING OR I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO REALLY CRY ABOUT!"
"I DON'T CARE WHO STARTED IT........GET OVER IT AND BE NICE TO EACH OTHER!"
Do parents say things like this anymore?? Or, maybe its just the meany parents that do......(and, I definitely was a meany parent.......just like my meany mother was!).
**********
Now to head in another direction........being at Bible School this week has brought me up-to-date on some of the strange first names little kids have nowadays. To avoid offending any readers, I won't mention any specific names, but I ask: Do parents ever stop and consider that future time when their darling baby will grow to be an adult saddled with a goofy name? (Goofy in my opinion, anyway.) There happens to be a little boy in the VBS class who actually has a good, solid, normal-sounding name, and the other day I told him I liked his name........(he's too young to comprehend the reason for my saying that, of course.)
***************
Oh, and while I'm at it........over on the right side of the blog is a parenting quote which hung on my refrigerator for years. Its by someone named Karen Heller, and includes the idea that "enlightenment and greater awareness" should be "honored over personal achievement". I think that's very important. Trophies in sports, or academics, or art, or whatever, don't mean a thing if the person winning them doesn't possess kindness, trustworthiness, respectfulness, courteousness, empathy, responsibleness------(alot of long "-ness" words, but you catch my drift, hopefully). Eyes to see and ears to hear. Life isn't about me, myself, and I......its about others. And, that's not saying my own life mirrors that very well, or at all, but I do believe its good to at least attempt to pass that ideal on to the young, impressionable people in our lives.
*******
Here's one more thing.......(although, I do need to bring this post to an end).......its a statement I used to hear my grandma say over the years, which would cut through our smug, prideful attitudes when we'd hear of some ne'er-do-well from our community who had gotten into trouble for drugs, or some other crime.........she'd say: "If we'd have been raised like they were raised, we might act that way, too." It would shut us all right up, and cut to the heart of the matter.......a person's childhood and the parenting they experience set the stage for the rest of life.
*****************
*****************
Sorry for this critical rant about kids and parents.........its just that I haven't been around little kids for quite awhile, and many memories come flooding back as I observe the goings-on at VBS. I know what you're thinking........May Jeannelle be blessed with many whiny, bratty grandchildren who also have very goofy names!! (And, I probably wouldn't mind that a bit!)
*****************
*****************
.jpg)
15 comments:
You made me laugh with that last comment. We've also been through VBS this week, I agree there's a lot to see when kids are massed together like that. I always come away thinking how nice my own kids are!
You'd probably hate my kids' names so I will refrain from telling them to you!
This week a mom at church said they are looking for a new church. She feels that her son isn't getting enough structured lesson time. Her son is 3. All the other moms concurred. I was the village idiot lone dissenter by saying, "You're kidding, aren't you?"
Yes, the wild roses are blooming across the state! Like most wild flowers, they do have extremely deep roots and are actually very, very strong flowers! They do look fragile and have delicate leaves, but they are survivors!
I really liked your earlier post about cultivating! I spent hours and hours and hours (!) doing that when I was younger!! Thank goodness for a fender mounted radio and KIOA in Des Moines!! Top 40s all the time! Here's the latest one from .... the Beatles!! Okay!!
Take care.
Jeannelle, mark my word: It doesn't matter how many whiny, bratty grandchildren you've seen in other families, your grandchildren are going to be (well nigh) perfect!
Loved your post today, Jeannelle!
First: wild roses.. love'em! There used to be one growing at the corner of the house where I lived with my mother, and where I now live. For some reason, Mama took a dislike to it -- I think it became too "brambly" for her -- and she dug it out. I still miss it. Maybe I'll find another one to plant in the same spot.
Second: Children's names. Like you, I won't repeat the actual names, but it is hard to believe that any *sane* parent would give a child a name like some I've heard around here. They're not only highly unusual, some of them are just unbelievable, and if pronounced as spelled would be scatological! I hope the kids will have the sense to utilize the legal system to change their names when they're able. :::end of rant:::
Hope you'll have a lovely weekend!
I loved your grandmother's saying. She was a wise woman.
I was just having the same thought about names. I stopped at the vet's for prescription dog food, and I was staring at a big poster that a kindergarden class made for the vet. And I realized that maybe three or four of those names were common in my grade school. The rest were different--either ethnic or made up. It just shows how our society is changing.
Ok, and here's the crank in me. I just people who make up name would master basic phonetics before they did! Ok, glad that's off my chest. I'll go back to being nice now.
Hi, caution!
Yes, from what I've seen this week, "structured lesson time" is the last thing 3-year-olds need. Why are parents buying into this obsession to get their children into a classroom setting at the youngest age possible. My husband and I didn't send our kids to preschool, and they seem to be turning out fine.....socially, academically, and otherwise. But, "experts" are constantly reporting on how crucial it is for children to attend preschool, and at younger ages all the time. Soon it will probably be mandatory.
(I doubt that your kids' names are very "goofy"!)
*********
Russell,
That's encouraging news about the wild roses......they must be survivors, for they show up every year, no matter what.
Oh, I can almost hear the music strains from your tractor's old radio, wafting on the breeze, here and there, across the cornfields of time. Thank you for conjuring up that scene in your comment!!
**********
rhymeswithplague,
Yes, I have a growing suspicion that grandchildren are part of a perfect species of humanity. I'm not in much of a hurry to acquire any, but with one child married, and another about to marry.....one just never knows.
************
Pat,
Oneof the wild rose species' names has "arkansas" in it, so I figured there must be some down in your state!
I'm struggling to resist the temptation to tell you what a couple of the "goofy" names are.....but, I won't......on the very slim chance that those children's relatives might read this blog someday and be mightily offended. Truly, though, I just shake my head, wondering what on earth those parents are thinking when they choose such names!
p.s. -- Your photo of the Iowa state flower is just lovely. Our state flower here in Georgia is called the Cherokee rose.
Speaking of names, I went to high school with Fredonia Musselwhite and to college with Tranquilla Furbush. Mama knew a Violet Roach. My first-grade teacher was Miss Wildegoose. My daughter taught a little boy named Champaydron. Hope I haven't opened the gate.
Hi, Ruth!
I think the made-up names bother me more than the ethnic ones. Back to my "its-all-about-ME" gripe......I sometimes think parents strive to come up with a name that NO ONE else will have, to make their child more "special". Otherwise, what IS the reason for those types of names?
***********
rhymeswithplague,
Yes, that's an ever humorous door you've opened.....you're right......there have ALWAYS been "goofy" names circulating. (And like a good friend of mine says, "Everyone's weird to somebody", so the same for names......every name is probably sounds "goofy" to someone.)
You certainly mentioned some doozies (we say that word often around here, but I've never written it before.....and it looks very strange), however.
I once knew of a Laurabelle Marguerite Maplethorpe......imagine her in first grade, painstakingly printing her lengthy name across the top of her papers!
I know there's many other odd names I've seen through the years, usually on the obituary page in the newspaper. I'll think: "Goodness, if that name had been mine, I'd have changed it for sure."
Parker always tries to bring me in a couple of sprigs when they first bloom. I was sitting this morning on the top of our hill and there was one right at my feet, and several along the lane. I love them, but they are fragile.
On the kids thing, I think you got it just right. Play is kid's work and they need plenty of it,along with a healthy dose of chores which teaches discipline and delayed gratification. Always something good after the work. You must have done a fine job Jeannelle.
Heh! Yes, those were the days - tractors and radios!
I could name most any song within about 4 notes when it started since I heard them so many times! A few years ago I was driving with my daughter in the truck and listening to KIOA - now an "oldies" station...!
I kept naming the song and the group or artist when a song would start and my daughter thought I was a complete nut! I told her some kids never grow up!!
Take care.
Hi....Sherry,
In my opinion, raising kids was such an exhausting experience.....most of the time trying just to keep my head above water, not knowing if I was doing the right things or not. I tended to do what felt right, follow my instincts, my gut.....and, sometimes, maybe that's what works the best.
**********
Hi, Russell,
There's just something about old songs, songs from our youth....when we hear them they transport us back to younger days, like old friends......that's why we're so loyal to them and enjoy their company!! Our kids will understand someday!
You have made some good points. It does always amaze me how much we mothers are like our own mothers.
Hey I like unique names!! Actually, when I was growing up my name, Kim, was not used by anyone in my town. This was in the 50's. So I loved the feeling of uniqueness it gave me---it made me feel there is only one me ;-). My daughter is named Eowyn from Tolkein's book, but also because it is welsh (hmm sp??). Her daughter's name is Rhianwen to carry on the welsh name and because it means Shining Holy Maiden. So names that are different can be there for a purpose. Oh, and my mom chose names that could be for a boy or a girl since back then the sex was not known ahead of time. So she chose, Chris, Stacey and Kim. (TA DA!!)
I do agree with much of what you said about kids running around and being active. But as far as homework schedules, I think a lot depends on the individual family's lifestyle. At one time my hubby would come home starving and would want an early supper (between 4:30 and 5!). He would want to be in bed at 9. So the family was geared around this. But when the kids were younger he worked a second shift. So they would sleep in as late as he did!! Family dynamics plays a part in what works I think.
ok ok, guys--I just read some of the other comments---Hey WHAT IS WRONG WITH UNIQUE OR WEIRD NAMES---I LOVE THEM!! There, just had to say it with caps. I just don't get it---I love variety. I love things different. My daughter loved her name. I love my grandbaby's name--it is musical. Man, think of all the variety out there in creation. CANT we be a little creative in our names???? SHEEESSHHHHH. ENOUGH already. We get some really weird ones here in SC. Ya ya it may make it hard at time to remember names, but I like it better than having 6 Kathy or Cathys at church (we may have more) and now knowing which one they want me to call---etc--makes for a doooozy of a time. Or at the nursing home there are 3 or 4 nurses and aides named Mary working at the same station---confusing or what!!!! THERE are some advantages to unique names. AND HEY---we are all unique!!!! THere < I had to rant and rave a act like a bratty 3 year old ;-)!!heee hheeeee , forgive me but it is fun!!!
Hi, nannykim!
Thank you for stopping by and weighing in your opinion!
Your daughter and grand-daughter's names are ethnic unique.....with lovely meanings attached. Its the names that are made up and have no meaning at all that I wonder about. I'd like to list a few, but will not, so as not to offend. Your points are well taken, though. Every name had to start out new at some point during history.......I need to remember that.
My own name-----which actually is not Jeannelle, although I wish it were-----was unique for a kid at the time I was growing up-----and I always disliked it. It didn't make me feel special, even though it was unique. Some of the names people give their kids nowadays would make me cringe with embarrassment if it were my name, but I guess embarrassments are similar to opinions, and vary from person to person, without being right or wrong.
I would rather have a meaningful name, even if its fairly common, than a unique name with no meaning, but that's just my opinion.
And here's another one:
"I don't care if everyone else is doing it. If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you want to do that, too?"
I can really relate to this post, Jeannelle! working at a K-12 school, I see so many things that completely surprise me. Children will be what they are told they are. If Johnny is chided as being mischievious, he will be so.
Post a Comment