What Our Children Teach Us

by Linda Leier Thomason

In my 40 years of life, my six-year old son Alex has been my greatest teacher on one's approach to life and on how to break old patterns, behaviors and habits.

He has taught me it's more than okay, it's spiritually awakening to:

* Run wildly in the rain pretending to score a touchdown on the wet lawn.

* Finger paint with polka music in the background.

* Make up silly rhyming stories and giggle endlessly at one's own creativity.

* Build blanket forts and eat lunch underneath them.

* Wrestle on the bed using self-titled moves, like the mashed potato masher and the rutabaga rumble.

* Dance to The Beatles in the family room on a Friday night.

* Eat ice cream for breakfast and eggs for dinner.

* Be completely open and honest and tell it like it's felt.

* Read books on the front porch with a flashlight.

* Lie on the golf course in the dark and star gaze.

* Build large cities surrounded by volcanoes instead of sand castles at the beach.

* Ask why?

* Say, "I'm really MAD at you!"

* Thank God during nighttime prayers for the chocolate shake at bedtime.

* Belly laugh at the priest's jokes in church.

* Wear clothes that don't always match.

* Lie on the floor, build corrals and play farm. Let the cows share a pen with the pigs and the chickens' share with the horses.

* Make up new rules for family board games.

* Walk to the pond and feed the turtles and ducks hot dog buns.

* Tell your parents, "I love you!" once a day.

Copyright 2001 Linda Leier Thomason.


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