Evidently, some students are so busy they don't stop and smell the pudding!
In last Sunday's Milwaukee Journal, there was an article contributed by Jeanne Marie Laskas, a reporter from the Washington Post. I found it quite interesting since I recently went on a rant about children not having enough free time to play. I've been so crazy about the modern family's schedule that not only did it make it into an article, Healthy Children and Play, but into a blog, Perfect Children
It seems that this phenomenon doesn't stop at preschool; or grade school; or high school; or college; or even into adulthood! Students are stressed - our families are stressed! Laskas reports that one of her students, a college-aged student with the demands of job and school, has been hit by a car three times...while making a Starbucks run! Amazingly enough, she blames the cars. Many of her other students complained there was no time to sleep, no time to party, no time for homework. Laskas was almost drawn into a thought that she might extend a deadline on a paper...but not so fast...she determined these students were just being primed for real life. How sad!
One of her students questioned her: "So, what I want to know is, when are you done, when does all of this pay off?"
Laskas was speechless. The reader can tell by the article she wanted to tell the students that there was no ultimate payoff - that they had started on a treadmill that would continue to spin forever until death. And then they could rest.
I don't want my children to feel like that. I don't want to feel like that. Each of us have so many things to be thankful for, yet I run into more and more people today who do not go through life with a thankful heart. I know, I know. Your bills are over due. Your 10-year old needs a costume hand-sewn in two hours and you're already dreading the holidays because you've got the entire clan coming over. What's the point of taking part in these things if you aren't enjoying them.
Learn the art of saying no.If something is an imposition, if you are booked full, say no. The world will not come to an end. Then when you take part in events, or you are sewing that school costume on short-order, enjoy it.Take time to deep breath and realize that these busy, busy days of your life will be over before you know it. These days will fly- and the days you find most precious you won't have pictures of, you will just have your memories. Do you want to remember anger for the better part of your children's lives?
As I said yesterday, my family acts as if I am probably losing my mind. Sometimes, in the middle of a family dinner, in the middle of a walk, a shopping trip, laughter, I find myself stopping. Stopping to look at the faces of those I love, remembering the smells, the laughter, the light-hearted jibs, the song of a bird in the background. I take a mental picture of my blessings. I take a picture of those memories a camera cannot record. On dark days,and there will be some, I sift through these memories to remind me that there will always be the sunshine of those little smiles on the other side of the storm.
What are we teaching our chldren, who begin life on a tread mill and cannot get off long enought to enjoy what they have now? We have taught our children that money is the important thing in life. You work hard - get into the best schools from the start, get the best grades, be the best on the team, go to a great college, graduate with honors, get the high paying job, buy the big house - it goes on and on and on. This is the crack in parenting in our society today.
We are gauging success by material possessions and how many times someone's name appears in the paper. How did our values become so tangled? All of our faiths teach us to believe in a higher power. Not one teaches the importance of money. If our ultimate goal changes as a family - from accuruing possessions and fame to being a good person and responsible citizen - the treadmill stops.
As parents, we have to teach our children to be the best they can be. Sometimes it will be as a company president. Sometimes it will be as the honest mechanic on the corner. We all have our part to play in life. We all have the responsibility to be responsible citizens, to take care of those who cannot care for themselves, to take care of our planet - there are so many things more important than money.
Laskas also had a student in class who told classmates that she "gave up a long time ago." This is not a tale of woe, or the tale of a child who decided to just give up on life.This student is one of the lucky ones - that figured out early that the pursuit of the almighty dollar is not the hill most satisying to climb in life.
Unfortunatley, fellow students labeled this girl a slacker! They don't believe she can make anything of herself..." without a double major and two internships and four clubs and at least one public speaking/dramatic performance on her resume."
This student told the others, without shame that at the end of class, she was going to go back to her dorm room and ..."eat pudding and do my homeowork."
I have to say, I have to agree with her. It is time that we all take care of business for the day, then sit back...and have a gigantic bowl of pudding...the flavor of which should be your last decision for the day.
