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Entertainment Topics
The Benefits of Family Hobbies
We have little kids. At 2 and 4, Zoe and Harrison make shopping trips very interesting.
Between their yelps for something on the shelf that’s not on our list, to
complaints of starvation — always uttered in the food aisles — and
wails for a potty — inevitably when we’re acres away from the restrooms
— they prompt lots of comments from parents of teenagers. Total strangers
will look at us in the grocery store and say, “Oh, they’re so cute
at that age. I remember when mine were that little. Enjoy them now,” they
say, with a look of foreboding. You mean it doesn’t get easier?!
I think.
Feeling frazzled and exhausted, I marvel that parenting could be any more challenging
than it already is. “How old are yours now?” I ask. “They’re
teenagers” is the typical reply, uttered with disgust, often within earshot
of those obviously sullen teens.
The parents seem to be saying that despite all the headaches and hassles of
raising toddlers, it’s nothing like the pain and frustration of battling teens.
My husband and I leave these encounters saddened by the sight of family members
who’ve stopped talking
to one another. We feel challenged to do whatever we can to avoid getting to
that point of apathy with our kids.
In addition to praying for our kids, spending time with them and guiding their
choices
in friends and entertainment, we’ve decided that one of the most important
things we can do is have family hobbies. We’re enjoying two such adventures currently. Developing family hobbies when kids are
little open valuable channels that may save relationships when teen turbulence
hits.
— Candice Z. Watters
Do you have thoughts, questions, advice on this topic? Post your stories and comments in the forum for other parents to respond to. Enter the forum now.
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