Our Children’s Dreams
My father is a great man with a history of stories that should be in a book. He used to tell us of how he had to walk miles to his school in four feet of snow, how he used to beg his teachers for homework, how he cried when there was no school because of holidays. Of course, some of his stories seemed a little exaggerated and might not be stories that would be in his book. Nevertheless, they were intended to excite us when we were kids. I now enjoy hearing those stories when he’s telling them to our kids, his grandchildren.
Today, we see the anxious feeling our children get for that first day of school. In grade school it’s the excitement of returning to the classroom and doing all those fun things teachers did with the students that made school “fun”
This year, I have a child entering high school. He is excited to be attending high school, that big step! I think, as a parent, I was more nervous than he was, because I knew what kind of social challenges high school brought. These days, as before, you are not only preparing to continue your education, now you are realizing that sense of belonging. You will now have to try to fit into a specific “social circle”. In other words, to belong somewhere. Be it, Sports or sports. Typically, these days there really isn’t anywhere else, which is sad.
When I went to school in the south, I had so many opportunities to join reading clubs, drama clubs, science clubs and there were even auto mechanics, music, carpentry and electrical classes. I find it sad that these days such programs are still not available for our children. I, for one, would love to see our children excel in areas other than sports. There’s a new program that is taking a positive direction in the arts – the Mikw Chiyâm program works with our artistic youth, a positive step for sure.
Question is, why do our children lose interest in these “different” directions? Simple. We, as parents, sometimes don’t put in enough time to encourage our children. We find ourselves too preoccupied with our social media, scrolling through everyone else’s updates that we forget to focus on our children’s interests. Guilty as charged right here. Why do we find it more interesting to scroll on social media posts when our children are standing there trying to get our attention?
I was listening to an Elder speak of our youth and how empty their lives are today. Best described, he says that when we raise our children everything seems smooth most times. However, when they reach their teen years their road starts weaving and they make many wrong choices. Smoking, stealing, alcohol and drugs.
Why do they go down this path? The Elder observed that when they look ahead to their future, they see nothing. And when they look to their past (history), all they see is sadness and violence. I believe he meant that, as a people, our history was taken away from us and we were taught a different history that took us down a whole new path.
When we eventually rewrite the history books that are used in our schools, we will regain that lost identity. The history taught to our children will be one that shows the true beauty of our people and land. This will instill pride and a clearer vision of a future that is full of new dreams and possibilities. I see a good future for our children.