Haiku to My Children (1)

Both my husband and I performed pretty well in school and we continued our education into college after high school. We went the traditional route. There's this semi-panicky thought that use to run through my head, the one that tells me I don't have much time to get them to 18, when they will leave for college and have a bright careers and happy futures. The flaws in this way of thinking we learned very quickly. 1) Our children are not us. What was best for us, may not be best for them. 2) Our children need time to heal and grow. It may be necessary for their stay under our roof to be extended longer than the traditional child. 3) Doing well in high school is not always necessary to be successful and happy in the future. Neither is college. However, training and developing skills are necessary to make a livelihood. 4) Our children's futures are theirs. Their choices are theirs. Their consequences (good and bad) are theirs to learn from. And 5) 18 is not a magical age full of "shoulds" and "have to's".

 This morning as we were getting ready for school, I had to remind myself of these truths as my oldest child, a junior in high school, hands me a crumpled up application to the career/vocational center and informs me that I should fill it out for him by Friday. And then he proceeds to push his school-issued i-pad into a book bag overstuffed with school papers, from September I'm sure, food wrappers and empty drink bottles, and gym clothes (stinky, I can smell them).  I notice he is wearing his pajama bottoms under his sweats, as I remind him he needs to eat breakfast. "Oh, yeah," he mumbles.  I shake my head and have to smile a little as I think about how this man-child will be considered legally an adult in a short year and a half.

Today's haiku is a little advice to my children, who will have bright and happy futures, no matter which road they choose to get there. 

 Someone smart once said

To predict a great future

You must create it.