Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Comfortable with Yourself

Andrew has a HUGE space between his two front teeth right now.

Today, as we're leaving church, Kara is coming down the driveway in her minivan, and Andrew dawdles around in the road, blocking her. As he finally moves and she drives past, she yells out the window, "Well, I could say something really mean, like 'Don't worry, I'll just drive through the space between your front teeth.'"

Oh my gosh. We cracked up! Andrew went back and high-fived her for such a great zinger!

As we were driving home, it crossed my mind that I would have been devastated if somebody had said something like that to me when I was in high school. But not Andrew. And I thought about Jane's fabulous post yesterday on homeschoolers having their own individual style, and knowing themselves, and not being Conformists Of The First Degree.

When the kids were young, and my mom was looking for gift suggestions, I would tell her about toys or kits or games they might enjoy from Timberdoodle or one of the offbeat toy catalogs. Mom would frequently comment on what neat toys there were, so different from what you see at the major big-box stores. I think the interest in unique playthings is kinda sorta symptomatic of my kids being their own individual people and not cookie-cutter kids.

2 comments:

  1. Maybe this also explains why everyone at college was always talking about how they were "finding themselves" - and I was always so confused by what on earth they meant. I may not always know what I'm doing, and I certainly am not the same person (per se) as I was back then (just like I won't be the "same person" 10 years from now - we all change and grow), but I've never felt this need to "find myself" - whatever that means.

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  2. I know exactly what you mean. It hurts me to see my young niece and nephews so desperate to fit in at school, to have the right clothes and the right electronics so they'll feel accepted. I'm so used to raising individuals that I can't bear to watch my young relatives' almost panicked insistence on "fitting in."

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