enough.

i write. i seek no pulitzer. i just need more bloggish habits, and i must start somewhere.

thought one:
people who think of the species of children as noisome pestilence... possibly:

1) don't spend time around them. are opinionating based on sitcoms, stereotypes, or fellow McDonald's patrons. (nobody's at their most appealing at McDonald's) have not really conversed with them in depth or taught them anything. (most assuredly have never learned anything from a child...)

2) have to be around them in high-stress, performance-based environments.

3) were themselves annoying as children. or, perhaps better put, were perceived as annoying by their parents. perhaps they were unsociably precocious and found other children bothersome as minors.

4) don't have a good theology of children and/ or don't possess children skills. or are around the children of those who don't. (this ties to number two.)

quote from Touchstone, Sept. 2008 Editorial, S.M. Hutchens:

[Parents whose children are "damaging, demanding, disorderly, and ungrateful"] "have usually brought it upon themselves.

Assuming the superior knowledge of their own more evolved generation, they are easily seduced by the Spirit of the Age, who has discouraged traditional parental wisdom and undermined its authority at every turn.

Their offspring may be expected to become [...] burdensome and unenjoyable company..."

* * * *

now i opinionate (more):

everyone has the responsibility to invest in younger generations. bah, that sounds inflated.

let me put it this way: according to my one and most educational psychology class in college (oh, how sweet the past tense sounds) humans feel pretty darn crummy in their later years if they have not significantly benefitted the upcoming generation.

we're relational; we're eternal. all our relationships are not timed eternally, however, which causes a certain tension when you start thinking about death. (which you can do now if you're smart or will inevitably when death starts breathing down your neck, as the pest is wont to do.) our actions tend toward emptiness if neither eternal nor relational, and when they are both we feel most human.

so. we've all heard this before. carpe diem. you have about 8 years to invest significantly (better said, influentially in mind forming) in the life of a child (4-12), 8 years to invest significantly in the life of a young person (12-20) and then you can have a whole bunch of advising, damage-control, and rehab as a person becomes an adult, but i would say, get 'em before their 16.

understand, if you're too busy for an 8 year old (since i seem to like the number 8 today), you're too busy for the best stress relievers i know: the humor and hugs of a child. no, coffee and a good book do not compare with humanity at its best.

if you're around undiciplined kids prone to being jerks, make them laugh and help them have fun. kids pretty much stop being jerks then.

how this ties into teaching your kids latin, i dunno. but for heaven's sake enjoy the munchkins while conjugating.

though two:
i miss peru, but i'm content to be here.

acclimating:
1. i resisted the urge to steal the paper in the airport bathrooms.

2. after tensing and worrying that i had forgotten my wallet, i smiled and waved at the police cruiser i saw on an early run.

3. coffee-ing for breakfast and lunching in under 20 minutes.

4. showering daily.

5. arriving for church less than an hour after it starts.

6. i am generally remembering not to kiss people when i hug them. i have a cold now, so i really need to remember.

thought three:

not acclimating:

1. liking and living with one's family being strange.

2. celebrities. ugh. i hate celebrities. not individuals, just the genre.

3. the Man. i haven't felt this disgusted since my freshman year. it's seeing the druggish effect of consumerism on the kids... they start all cute and content and ARE TAUGHT to covet, to lust, to consume, to upgrade to what Walmart (or Target, or Best Buy) is offering. fed brand-loyalty with their Gerbers. sorry. i'm going off. but the agenda of the sellers is so sickening.

4. also nauseating is the complicity of the parents. who in their right mind would buy their child cable or a video game when childhood obesity is at a historic high?! when school shootings are called "an epidemic?" when Americans can't compete with Asians in technical fields? (i should provide citations, but i'm lazy and trying to be as least distracted as possible. if you contest me, look it up yourself.) how can parents stand to have their children watch TV? doth it make the buggers more loveable, all silent and spacy and bored like that? ugh. do you find your daughter's obsession with Hannah Montana healthy? Is it advisible to have children know that Britney Spears shaved her head? The very best thing you could have your offspring memorize is lyrics to High School Musical?!

5. complaining about little things. me and others. kinda silly...