Yesterday was Tuesday and almost middle of the week and we went fishing. Not on a Saturday, or a Sunday but on a Tuesday. It is almost sinful. The grand-darlings were here, the dirt tank has finally caught some water from the various showers we have had. The sky was blue with big puffy white clouds scrambling around, it was time to fish!
The little paddle boat came out of retirement and Pappy was made honorary "captain of the ship!"
They paddled and fished and caught not a thing! The oldest was sure that a fish nibbled his big toe! I told him it was probably a snapping turtle which had him rethink the whole poke your foot in the water idea!
You know what it cost us? Not a dime! And a little of our time. That dirt tank may not be beach front property and the "Cowboy Yacht," may not be first class accommodations, but the grand-darlings didn't care. They had fun! Isn't that what it is all about? Just having fun?
It makes me sad to see the state of children today. They have phones, they have tablets, not the old Big Chief kind.. I suppose that "Big Chief "tablets would be considered "raciest" these days. Ya'll know what kind of "tablets" I am talking about. Ones with screens that plug into a wall. Video games, X-Box, something with a plug is all they seem to care about anymore. These electronic devices have taken over the world, and they have taken over the lives of our children and our grand-children.
The world is not the better for it. They are not the better for it. We as parents and grand-parents are on the better for it. Do you know why?
Imagination has been stolen from the minds of children.Children do not have to use their imaginations today. The days of going out and building a fort, fighting Indians, or fighting the Cowboys, depending on what side you were on that day are gone for the most part. Why? Because they can't put down their devices and because their parents won't make them. An imagination is a sad thing to lose. The great inverters of our time imagined their inventions. The great writers imagined their first book, an artist imagines their first picture...you see where I am going with this. Take a child's imagination and you have taken away his potential.
It is far easier to be a parent these days because you have constant convenient babysitters at your beck and call and at the touch of a screen. Don't want to deal with the constant demands of your children, sit them down and plug them in. Here is a news flash...children are demanding little creatures. They are. They demand to be loved, to be hugged, to be protected, to be a part of your life. To be included.
It costs you and it costs me something. Its costs us our time.
Is it easier to make the cookies yourself? Yes. It is easier to weed the garden, plant the flowers, build the dog house yourself? Yes it is easier, it is faster and it gets done right. But does it teach the child sitting with his or her face stuck in an electronic device the value of a job well done? No it does not.
When you isolate yourself from your children in your own home you are in a way abusing them. That is harsh but I will not back down from that statement. Studies have been done on babies that have been abandoned and left by their mothers for whatever reason. In some cases these babies are taken in to facilities that are overcrowded to began with so they receive the basic minimal case. Just feeding and changing. They are never held, rocked or nurtured. They do not thrive. They exist. Small animals are the same way. Every creature born on this earth needs the nurture that only a mother can give.That's a fact and that is part of the grand design of the Grand Designer.
Children are a precious blessing from God. If we don't teach them, comfort them, care for them then the world will. If they don't receive what they need at home when they are old enough they will seek it out in the world. And the world will be only to glad to accommodate.
Take them fishing. Read a book together. Plant a garden, or just a pot of flowers. Get off
your device and make some memories.
God Bless and Happy Trails
