The joys of children
13/08/16 05:26
Our relationship with our friends from Australia who are visiting us has always been one of family-to-family. We met their children when we first moved to Chicago. Although we had no children at the time, the friendship has gone on through the births of children, grandchildren, and a host of other changes over the decades. Even though we have lived on two distant continents, we have had the blessing of being together at some key moments in our lives. They visited us with their first grandson several years ago. We were able to bring our adult children with us on a trip to Australia a decade ago. Along the way we’ve shared photographs and stories of family life. So it seems completely natural to us that on this trip they are traveling with their son and his four-year-old son.
Our conversations are mostly adult and the four-year-old doesn’t have any of his peers to play with while they are visiting us here. Next week we’ll travel to Montana where our son and grandson will meet us, so there will be two boys for adventures for a couple of days.
All the same, I think we’re succeeding in making the trip into a wonderful adventure for the four-year-old. First of all he is visiting in a place where all of the adults love children. Our daughter and son-in-law both are great with kids. Our daughter works as a teacher in a child development center and is confident and at ease with children. When a burst of emotion overwhelms the child, there is always an adult with an understanding nature available to assist him. More importantly, all of the adults around him understand children and love to have them along, so if something takes a bit longer or if we need to take a few moments for child-centered activity no one is bothered in the least.
A trip from Australia to the United States is a big undertaking when traveling with a child. The 16+ hour flight time from Australia to the West Coast is a big challenge for starters. There isn’t much room for moving about on an airplane and the travel time is long. Even though a child usually sleeps relatively comfortable in an airline seat, no one in good health sleeps for that long in one stretch. Arriving in the United States there are a lot of challenges to a little one whose routines are pretty much disrupted. Even though he can carry some favorite toys in his backpack, most of the rest of his world is filled with new things to which he might adjust. He is sleeping in a strange bed in a strange house with different sounds, smells and sights than he has at home. The people speak in an accent that seems strange to his ears and some of the foods are different as well.
Our friends’ grandson is handling all of the challenges of travel extremely well. He is a delightful and very polite boy who is at home in his world and at home with adults. He is respectful of the people and places he is visiting and is very interested in a wide variety of things, including the animals and sights of this land he is visiting.
Having him along on the trip has added a lot of delight for us adults as well. He is constantly reminding us of the importance of play and his laughter is infectious. He gets us to slow down and notice things we might otherwise overlook. And, seeking adventures that are engaging for him means that we get to do things that we might otherwise miss. Dinosaur Park, the 1880’s train and countless other attractions of our area are things that we often simply ignore in our everyday lives. Having a four-year-old visit reminds us of how interesting and varied our community is and how much of it we pass by without noticing until someone comes along to open our eyes. In addition, having a child around forces us adults to be mindful of regular meals and bedtimes which are as important for adults as they are for children, but which we sometimes neglect in our desire to catch up with our conversation.
Being honored with such a visit reminds me of all of the children whose lives are not so privileged. I read about the children of Syria, for example, whose lives are forever disrupted by war. The loss of homes and family members can be devastating. Going years without the normal activities of children such as schools, an occasional gift or a quiet place to sleep changes everything. A child has to grow up more quickly when they live in a place of war. Hearing gunshots and mortar rounds exploding is very scary for adults. Living with constant fear is more than stressful. It is traumatic. The loss of family members forces children to assume the roles of adults, caring for one another, seeking income for the family, and struggling for the minimums of survival. In war children are often separated from their families and have to make their way with little assistance. War not only injures and kills adults, it leaves children with life-altering injuries as well. They experience pain and suffering beyond our imagination.
The war in Syria has been going on for five years now. That is the entire life of our grandson and longer than our four-year-old guest has been around. There are children who have known nothing but war for all of their lives.
They say that the lucky ones are able to get away from the war. Children can be granted asylum in other countries, but the prospect of having to move far away from home to an unknown place where people speak a different language is daunting. They would like to go back home and return to the familiar, but that is impossible.
So we treasure our moments with the children in our lives. We treasure their presence. But we also pray for the children whose lives are more difficult and hope that they too can find the security of home and family.
Our conversations are mostly adult and the four-year-old doesn’t have any of his peers to play with while they are visiting us here. Next week we’ll travel to Montana where our son and grandson will meet us, so there will be two boys for adventures for a couple of days.
All the same, I think we’re succeeding in making the trip into a wonderful adventure for the four-year-old. First of all he is visiting in a place where all of the adults love children. Our daughter and son-in-law both are great with kids. Our daughter works as a teacher in a child development center and is confident and at ease with children. When a burst of emotion overwhelms the child, there is always an adult with an understanding nature available to assist him. More importantly, all of the adults around him understand children and love to have them along, so if something takes a bit longer or if we need to take a few moments for child-centered activity no one is bothered in the least.
A trip from Australia to the United States is a big undertaking when traveling with a child. The 16+ hour flight time from Australia to the West Coast is a big challenge for starters. There isn’t much room for moving about on an airplane and the travel time is long. Even though a child usually sleeps relatively comfortable in an airline seat, no one in good health sleeps for that long in one stretch. Arriving in the United States there are a lot of challenges to a little one whose routines are pretty much disrupted. Even though he can carry some favorite toys in his backpack, most of the rest of his world is filled with new things to which he might adjust. He is sleeping in a strange bed in a strange house with different sounds, smells and sights than he has at home. The people speak in an accent that seems strange to his ears and some of the foods are different as well.
Our friends’ grandson is handling all of the challenges of travel extremely well. He is a delightful and very polite boy who is at home in his world and at home with adults. He is respectful of the people and places he is visiting and is very interested in a wide variety of things, including the animals and sights of this land he is visiting.
Having him along on the trip has added a lot of delight for us adults as well. He is constantly reminding us of the importance of play and his laughter is infectious. He gets us to slow down and notice things we might otherwise overlook. And, seeking adventures that are engaging for him means that we get to do things that we might otherwise miss. Dinosaur Park, the 1880’s train and countless other attractions of our area are things that we often simply ignore in our everyday lives. Having a four-year-old visit reminds us of how interesting and varied our community is and how much of it we pass by without noticing until someone comes along to open our eyes. In addition, having a child around forces us adults to be mindful of regular meals and bedtimes which are as important for adults as they are for children, but which we sometimes neglect in our desire to catch up with our conversation.
Being honored with such a visit reminds me of all of the children whose lives are not so privileged. I read about the children of Syria, for example, whose lives are forever disrupted by war. The loss of homes and family members can be devastating. Going years without the normal activities of children such as schools, an occasional gift or a quiet place to sleep changes everything. A child has to grow up more quickly when they live in a place of war. Hearing gunshots and mortar rounds exploding is very scary for adults. Living with constant fear is more than stressful. It is traumatic. The loss of family members forces children to assume the roles of adults, caring for one another, seeking income for the family, and struggling for the minimums of survival. In war children are often separated from their families and have to make their way with little assistance. War not only injures and kills adults, it leaves children with life-altering injuries as well. They experience pain and suffering beyond our imagination.
The war in Syria has been going on for five years now. That is the entire life of our grandson and longer than our four-year-old guest has been around. There are children who have known nothing but war for all of their lives.
They say that the lucky ones are able to get away from the war. Children can be granted asylum in other countries, but the prospect of having to move far away from home to an unknown place where people speak a different language is daunting. They would like to go back home and return to the familiar, but that is impossible.
So we treasure our moments with the children in our lives. We treasure their presence. But we also pray for the children whose lives are more difficult and hope that they too can find the security of home and family.