Today is my 27th birthday. Coincidentally, I have really been contemplating life lately.
***Warning: This is a totally random post. I am just expressing some stuff I have been thinking about, but please feel free to comment with your perspective - if you want! :) ***
Why does life have to be so complicated?
Back in the day (and when I say this, I mean WAY before my time!), life was simple. I'm talking "Little House on the Prairie" times. People got up when the sun came up. The men worked the fields and did the outside chores, and women worked in the home, cooking, cleaning, and looking after the children. The children spent their days playing, doing chores, and learning valuable life skills. At the end of a long day, they would all gather 'round the dinner table, to a nice home-cooked meal. They spent time together as a family in the evening, singing songs, and telling stories, and then they went to bed.
Fast forward to now. Dad's up early, and heads off to work. Mom's gets up early, gets the older kids off to school, the younger kids to daycare, and heads to work herself.
After school, the older kids have various sports and activities, have a quick supper, spend the rest of the evening doing homework, and go to bed way too late. The younger kids get picked up from daycare at dinner time, and usually have take out, or a quick dinner of frozen chicken fingers and fries. They get bathed and put to bed, barely seeing their parents all day. Dad gets home late, and plops in front of the tv or computer, exhausted after a long day. Mom finishes getting everything done for the evening, then she sits in front of a different tv or computer. Eventually they both go to bed, and after a few short hours of sleep, they start it all again the next day.
Now I know that not EVERY family is like this, but a lot are. We have become a very materialistic, success-driven society. We have to have the highest paying (longest hours) job. Our kids have to have the best of everything, anything they want, and be involved in every activity. Why? Why is life no longer simple?
I am not naive. I know that life "back then" wasn't all "Little House on the Parairie-ish". But it was a lot simpler.
Why do we have to have the best of everything? Why do we care what other people think? Does any of it matter in the end? We can't take any of it with us, so why do we spend our lives trying to acquire stuff?
Sometimes, I wish we could just pick up and move out to the middle of nowhere. We could plant a huge garden, and have a few animals - provide for ourselves. We could homeschool, and spend time together as a family.
Our children grow up SO fast. Why do we try to rush through it? When my kids grow up, what will they remember about their childhood? Will they have happy memories?
1 comment:
I know what you mean! I think families were a lot stronger back in the day! They had smaller houses, less distractions, more dependence on one another, and more quality time together. Though you were also a lot more likely to see one of your children die from a million different things! I still think I'd take living nowadays over living back then, just maybe with a few adjustments! My husband is CONSTANTLY trying to get me to agree to living out in the middle of nowhere!
I still can't understand how a mother can leave their child for a majority of the week to work! I know some families have to do it, but there is no way I'd EVER be able to. I'd literally live in a barn if it meant that I got to stay at home with my children and watch them grow and teach them to be the kind of people I want them to be! I miss Haven when we are out and she's in the stroller too long, lol. Like truly and deeply miss her, even though she's right next to me!! I'd be a complete mess if I left her for even a day!
I've been thinking lately too about possessions. And I'm really thankful that I didn't have a lot growing up. My family had 4 children in a 2 bedroom house and money was very tight! I think it helped shape who I am a lot and I want to be able to instill the same lessons and values in my children that I learned from those experiences!
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