When Passions Interfere

There are little eyes upon you,

And they are watching night and day;

There are little ears that quickly

Take in every word you say.

There are little hands all eager

To do everything you do;

And a little boy who's dreaming

Of the day he'll be like you.

You're the little fellow's idol;

You're the wisest of the wise;

In his little mind, about you

No suspicions ever rise.

He believes in you devotedly;

Holds that all you say and do,

He will say and do in your way

When he's grown up just like you.

There's a wide-eyed little fellow

Who believes you're always right;

And his ears are always open

And he watches day and night.

You are setting an example

Every day in all you do;

For the little boy who's waiting

To grow up to be just like you.

Anonymous

The summer following my son's disastrous kindergarten experience (read Virtual Homeschooling: A Win-Win Situation) I had the hardest time getting him to read.  It was like pure torture for him to sit down with a book .  After many months of working with my son, he finally gave in and quit fighting.  There was still the occasional whining, but even that seemed to happen less and less.  Now, my son will finish a book, and ask me what he gets to read next.  What a difference!

This past week while taking my "break" from blogging we really focused on school.  The subject that seems to be the new "torture" is composition.  After several days and the same number of lessons my son took a moment to reflect.  Then he said to me, "Mom, you are really good at this.  Is that why you like to write so much?"  My heart did a little flip and before the tears could come to my eyes I told my son how important writing is to me.  He just looked at me, smiled, and said, "I can do this, mom."

Later that day my son wanted to look at my blogs.  He has seen some of my posts, but never realized how many I had written.  To my son it was "amazing", and he kept asking me if I had really written all of them.  Again, he gave me that beautiful smile and told me it was ok if I wanted to write some more.

I have had time to think back to those days of struggling with my son over his reading.  To come to the realization that his feelings about reading and writing were that these passions of mine were things he had to compete with for his mommies attention.  He viewed reading and writing as a negative, but with a new outlook those dreaded subjects are now being embraced by my son.

When we are blind to how our passions interfere with our relationship with our children they become our children's downfall.  It is our responsibility to balance our passions with the guidance our children deserve.  Given the right circumstances we can turn what may appear to be a negative into a lasting bond between our children and us.

"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want."  Galatians 5:16-17