Park Thoughts

We went to the park today. It is near a middle school and a high school bus drop off so it's full of older kids in the afternoon. I usually try to avoid the park that time of day. When I overhear the language, the conversations and the interactions of the teenagers there it makes me want to tell them to shape up and at the same time wonder what in the world their parents are teaching them at home.  Which in turn makes me feel like I'm already fifty years old.  I wasn't paying too much attention to time (no surprise there) and school got out and the teenagers started coming. I told Hayes & Kamri we had to go home.  Being the inquisitive children they are and trying to avoid the injustice of having to leave, they had to know why we couldn't be there the same time as the older kids.  Wanting to avoid more questions about what does inappropriate, cursing and sex mean, (I'll deal with those later but not at the park!) I summarized by saying some of them are bad examples.  Hayes responded that we could be good examples to them. I wish it was that easy buddy...   A nice thought bud, but we're heading home.  As we were leaving we passed a group of kids where I heard two girls saying things that I feel are inappropriate for anyone to say, much less a 13-year-old followed by another kid saying "shut up there are little kids over there."

Although the teens conversation is a bit different, the same scenario has happened multiple times on our trips to the park. One teen says something to their friends and gets shushed because I'm overhearing.  I know they could care less if they didn't see an adult around. It makes me wonder how I'm going to teach my kids when they are teens to not be the ones saying those things, not  just shush their friends when adults are around, but to have the confidence to tell their friends they don't want to hear it and not only conversations, but to have them stick up for what they know is right and will keep them happy in the long run, not just what's "cool" or "expected behavior" in high school.

I was mulling over this as I pushed Lyla in the stroller home. Hayes stopped riding his bike, bent down and picked up a piece of trash.  "Mom, we gotta throw this away, I don't want the earth litter-y"  He ran back to the park and threw it away. Not helping my patience, Kamri found a bag and wanted to do the same thing. As they got back on their bikes Hayes turned to me and said. "It makes me happy to make good choices, keeping the earth clean is a good choice, right?" Yep!  I know being a tree-hugger doesn't always equate to moral soundness but it did help me realize that it's the little things I teach my kids--taking it a day at a time--that will give them confidence to stand up for the things that they know will make them happy in the long run and become well-rounded adults. That...and A LOT of prayers.