Saturday, December 31, 2005
Dust on the inside
Isn’t it strange how a seemingly simple conversation with a friend leads to so much thought? Thought for me also means writing, so today’s blog is born of good conversation and of course, Walmart. My friend and I talked about kids and grandkids and how much fun they are when they are young.
While at Walmart, after our conversation I saw a couple of kids. I was standing by the checkouts filling my 5-gallon jug with bottled water and watching a little girl and her mother checking out near me. The little girl was very cute and about 3 or 4 years old with curly blond hair. She dropped her stocking cap on the floor and her mother did not notice it. I thought the mother might leave without seeing it so while my jug filled, I walked over and placed the cap on the little girls lap and went back to my jug. The mother did not see me do it, but the little girl noticed it and gave me a big smile. As I walked off, she said bye to me and I wondered if her mother thought it odd that her daughter would talk to a stranger without being spoken to.
Another place in the store, I spied a blue mitten about 5-year-old size lying in the middle of an aisle. I walked by it and down a couple of aisles to the milk section where I saw a mother with her son who was dressed in blue. I asked her if her son had blue mittens and she looked at me a bit funny, and then at her son and said to him, "This will be the second time we will have to go back to get your mittens." He smiled shyly and started feeling around for his mittens in his pockets. I jogged back up 2 aisles and recovered the lost mitten for her so she would not have to go back for it.
All this may seem like a long introduction, but I do have a lot of time to write this. I guess it might be time to get to the point. These mothers I encountered obviously loved their children and took very good care of them. There are so many other children who are abused and neglected that are quietly crying out for help in ways that usually have nothing to do with speech. My heart breaks as I talk to people who were abused as children. It seems as if within the past 50 to 100 years child abuse and neglect has increased many fold. Children are so precious and vulnerable, unscrupulous people find it easy to take advantage of them.
When much younger, I used to play tent with my kids, stretching a blanket over chairs, tables and couches to make a fort for them to crawl through. We had so much fun pretending to be knights, secret agents, aliens and a whole list of other professions together. I see some parents now who let the TV baby-sit their kids. Little kids left alone for hours after school to get themselves something to eat and get into trouble while mom or dad is away. It occurred to me that these kids could be so much more if someone just stopped neglecting them and spent those precious minutes and hours with them to develop their character.
As I left Walmart, huge flakes of snow were falling down and blowing across the parking lot. I remembered what I was taught in school that at the center of these magnificent flakes of frozen water is a heart of dust. Perhaps only just a single piece of dust with all this rare beauty swirled around it to make such a beautiful thing to behold. Then I thought of the warm, giving, precious hearts that children have and how with just a little loving care, they can be built up into magnificent human beings.
Where are your grandkids or children today? Is a play station or a TV raising your kids or grandkids? Do you spend time with them when you can, loving them? Could you skip that golf game or football game or shopping trip to make just a few short hours to help your kids become more loving and special people than they would without your added attention? Unlike the snowflakes, children have hearts of flesh. Hearts that long to have mom or dad or grandma or grandpa decide that they are worth more than anything else there might be to do with their time.
I plan on spending time with my kids as much as is possible even though they are small no longer. Please take the time to open yourself and your life to your kids. You and they will be glad you did.
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While at Walmart, after our conversation I saw a couple of kids. I was standing by the checkouts filling my 5-gallon jug with bottled water and watching a little girl and her mother checking out near me. The little girl was very cute and about 3 or 4 years old with curly blond hair. She dropped her stocking cap on the floor and her mother did not notice it. I thought the mother might leave without seeing it so while my jug filled, I walked over and placed the cap on the little girls lap and went back to my jug. The mother did not see me do it, but the little girl noticed it and gave me a big smile. As I walked off, she said bye to me and I wondered if her mother thought it odd that her daughter would talk to a stranger without being spoken to.
Another place in the store, I spied a blue mitten about 5-year-old size lying in the middle of an aisle. I walked by it and down a couple of aisles to the milk section where I saw a mother with her son who was dressed in blue. I asked her if her son had blue mittens and she looked at me a bit funny, and then at her son and said to him, "This will be the second time we will have to go back to get your mittens." He smiled shyly and started feeling around for his mittens in his pockets. I jogged back up 2 aisles and recovered the lost mitten for her so she would not have to go back for it.
All this may seem like a long introduction, but I do have a lot of time to write this. I guess it might be time to get to the point. These mothers I encountered obviously loved their children and took very good care of them. There are so many other children who are abused and neglected that are quietly crying out for help in ways that usually have nothing to do with speech. My heart breaks as I talk to people who were abused as children. It seems as if within the past 50 to 100 years child abuse and neglect has increased many fold. Children are so precious and vulnerable, unscrupulous people find it easy to take advantage of them.
When much younger, I used to play tent with my kids, stretching a blanket over chairs, tables and couches to make a fort for them to crawl through. We had so much fun pretending to be knights, secret agents, aliens and a whole list of other professions together. I see some parents now who let the TV baby-sit their kids. Little kids left alone for hours after school to get themselves something to eat and get into trouble while mom or dad is away. It occurred to me that these kids could be so much more if someone just stopped neglecting them and spent those precious minutes and hours with them to develop their character.
As I left Walmart, huge flakes of snow were falling down and blowing across the parking lot. I remembered what I was taught in school that at the center of these magnificent flakes of frozen water is a heart of dust. Perhaps only just a single piece of dust with all this rare beauty swirled around it to make such a beautiful thing to behold. Then I thought of the warm, giving, precious hearts that children have and how with just a little loving care, they can be built up into magnificent human beings.
Where are your grandkids or children today? Is a play station or a TV raising your kids or grandkids? Do you spend time with them when you can, loving them? Could you skip that golf game or football game or shopping trip to make just a few short hours to help your kids become more loving and special people than they would without your added attention? Unlike the snowflakes, children have hearts of flesh. Hearts that long to have mom or dad or grandma or grandpa decide that they are worth more than anything else there might be to do with their time.
I plan on spending time with my kids as much as is possible even though they are small no longer. Please take the time to open yourself and your life to your kids. You and they will be glad you did.
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