Since I just threw a bunch of parenting resources out there, I think I should also share the notes I jotted down on an envelope this afternoon upon reading the MCM post about animosity toward parenting books.
I got a picture today of children as musical instruments. They make different sounds and they're played different ways. Just because a violin is different from a flute doesn't make one better or worse than the other. While one is a stringed instrument and the other is wind, there is no difference in their value. You could try to blow into a stringed instrument to no avail, or attempt to find strings on a wind instrument (since your only experience with instruments might have been with strings), but you will never find them. The trick is to discover how each instrument sings. Then, give it songs to play.
Different parenting styles are like the different ways to play instruments. Some offer songs to sing . . . the songs might be classical, country, contemporary . . . they might be fast or slow, loud or soft . . . but they're all ways to create music, and they're all valuable.
If you've ever seen an orchestra, you know how powerful it is to behold so many different people playing so many different instruments at once. How glorious the sound! If we could see our children as playing in a grand orchestra, perhaps we could appreciate better the differences in instruments, how they're played, and the sounds they make.
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