Monday, July 31, 2006

My point...and I do have one...

Yesterday, my husband brought out his keyboard (yes, the musical kind, no, he was never in an 80's cover band) to practice some music and to introduce our son to another instrument (so far, he's seen us play a recorder, drums, guitar, and harmonica). A [my son] loved the experience to the point where he was on top of the keyboard, on all fours, shaking his head back and forth, bouncing to the rhythm he'd summoned, and screaming (BTW, he'll be 1 year old on the 18th of next month).

My husband said something about channeling Jim Morrison (which of course scared the heck out of me, as I really don't want to be driven crazy with Doors-inspired music 15 years from now). He is also convinced that we should send a video clip of his performance (we'd have to re-create it--I don't think that will be difficult) to one of those home video shows.

So, what has this to do with farm life?

We are probably less isolated than many other people who farm for a living (we are about 7 minutes from "civilization"), but it will still be a bigger effort for us (than most) to provide "extras" for our son that suburbanites take for granted (sports, music lessons, scouting, etc.). We want to give him a wide variety of opportunities to develop his physical and social skills, but the time factor is...a factor.

I suppose it's silly to have brought this to the front of my thoughts when implementation is still 5 years away, but I guess it's all part of being a mom. Five years from now, I'll probably be agonizing over what he'll be doing behind the wheel.

1 comment:

Michelle Liebgott-Osinga said...

Your post is interesting to me, because I just read a book that applies to this kind of stuff (The Power of Play by David Elkind.) Elkind has lots of good reasons why all those lessons and sports teams are actually BAD for your kid. Don't worry; having a childhood on the farm will be a wonderful experience for your son. Think how much he more he will know about biology and botany than if he grew up in the suburbs!