Our Grandchildren... Christmas 2001

 

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4 girls, 3 boys, tons of fun.  Sweet, mischievous, ornery, thoughtful, rambunctious, inquisitive, fun, funny, loveable, smart, loving.

They are all great kids.  We are lucky to have them.

 
This really spoke to my desires for my precious grandkids:

 

 
Paul Harvey Writes:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas/Hanukkah time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.


     I tend to agree with nearly all of his wishes and I thought of a few of my own which I'm adding below:

 

If you want to build a soap box derby car, I hope your dad will help you with it rather than doing all the work himself.  That same wish applies to the school projects to make something to share at school.   Parents should never forget that there is very little real accomplishment for a child who displays a project he or she had little to do with making.  Better to have a few things 'less than perfect' and know that "I did that...with some help from Mom or Dad".

If you want to play sports in little league (baseball, soccer, pee-wee football, etal) I hope you will have a coach that is more interested in letting every kid have some time on the field than he/she is in winning the game.  And I pray that your parent will find any and every way possible to be upbeat and positive about your contributions to the team and keep most of his/her advice on how you could play better to himself.  And, if you have a parent that ever yells at you or screams criticism at you from the sidelines or in the car after you leave the field, may that parent break a leg and be confined to bed so that he/she cannot attend your games for the whole season.

I hope you have parents that realize that "being bored" isn't reason enough to rush you to the Mall or a movie or to fill your life with endless 'play dates' and planned activities.  Some of the most fun a kid can have is finding his/her own entertainment to keep from being bored.  A good Imagination is one of the very best gifts that any parent can give a child. 

Learn to limit the amount of time you spend watching television or playing video or electronic games.  These are passive forms of entertainment that will keep you from spending time with family, friends, playing out of doors as well as keeping you "in the dark" about the real, very interesting world around you.

I want you to read for enjoyment. Once learned, it can fill you with a skill that can teach, enrich and entertain.  Nearly everything that you might want to find out about, you can learn from books or from reading information found on the internet.  It's also a sure-fire antidote for boredom.

Once in a while, try something that you always thought you hated.  Like spinach soup,  listening to classical music on the radio instead of rap, visiting a nursing home and talking with a lonely elderly person or writing a poem.   As people mature, their tastes and interests change, but if you never give new experiences a chance, you may miss out on finding your next best thing.

Carol

 

 

The Girls - Through the Years - John & Carol - The Grandkids - The Abbott Kids - Heather & Mark

To Family Pages The Abbott Kids (in the 40s)

 

 

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