I don’t know about you, but this year I’m ready for school to be out.
Last year, I feared summer. Really what I feared was the loss of the school routine. What would I do with my son every day, all summer long? This year, that fear’s been replaced. Trumped by thoughts of the children lost at Sandy Hook and Plaza Towers.
I want my child home. With me. Where I can see him and hear him and hug him and know he’s safe.
Truth be told, he’s probably not much safer at home than he is at school. I can’t protect him from all the dangers in the world any more than his teachers can. It’s just that these days this worrisome hesitation pulls at my heart when I send him off in the mornings. I kiss him goodbye knowing there are parents who did the same and never saw their children alive again.
I admit it. I’m powerless against murderous shooters, wanton bombers, natural disasters, accidents, and illness.
What’s a Momma Bear to do?
The best I can. That’s what I’ll do. While he’s in my house and under my care—while we’re together—I’ll do the best I can and ask the sovereign God to help me trust Him with the rest.
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 NIV
I can’t listen to this song without crying, but it fits the post. In My Arms by Plumb.
Parents, do you find yourself holding your children tighter these days?
Yes- mixed feelings over here. While I am glad to have my kids near me, and not be wondering all day about them- I have had a few weeks with them and I am ready for school again in more than one way!!! Ha! The danger might be ME. ;)
I (and my wife too) hug my daughter everyday, and I hold her tight whenever I can. It’s a privilege to see her growing up and staying safe.
I was just talking with Joe about what he wants to study his senior year. We home school. Because we did some coordination with his older sister on scheduling classes, he has only Calculus in his requirements to graduate. We have to come up with electives, and I told him to be thinking about what it is he would like to learn.
The public education system has produced pathologies which were unforeseen by the good people who envisioned it. But there are certainly enough people, in the worst of places, who gladly take any advantage to promote their agenda(s). These people statistically keep their own children out of that system.
God is good, all the time, and that is the ultimate answer to all anxiety.
But SOME of what makes us anxious is self inflicted. And if safety at school is on your list, well, I have about 20 years experience teaching at home. I know how it works, and I know lots of people who have taken that same path. Results have been good.
( most of them did it better than I did, as far as reproducing methods, not results. three home school graduates, 100% college placement. #1 has dropped out, but #2 is cum laude in Physics from Rolla. Jeff should be able to appreciate the bona fides involved.)
What a person who has not walked this path will never fully appreciate is the value of the preservation of continuity in the family, that public education does much to weaken if not wreck. Safety has never been an issue, and I can easily say I have never seen the dark side of teenage attitude ( in my own house ). Not entirely unlike actually living in Mayberry.
Ah, well. You hug your kids, and I will hug mine. Mine are hugged less frequently these days, but when the opportunity presents itself…..
I hear you, Roy :)
God knows Julie and I hold our girls tighter now. I know exactly how you feel Aimee and I fear what may come. Thank God we have Him in place to hold us along the way. Without it, I can’t imagine dealing with such horrors.
Me neither, Rodney. Thanks for the comment.