It Takes a Village

Welcome to Wednesday!

For many of us Wednesday=Church Day. This is definitely the case for us....last week was a 'marathon' day at church. We ran over right after we were done with lessons and got started working on making soup for the meal (more about that in another post). It so happened that it was also Full-Day Release Time for the 7-12th graders...my kids were THRILLED...they ADORE teenagers...and you know what? The teenagers at our church seem to adore them right back! Throughout the morning I saw Leve on no less than four different laps, Finn playing with several of the boys, and Kiki chatting it up with various groups of teen girls. That night the kids told me how being at church was the best part of their day.

As they each shared I was struck once again by the truth to the saying that "it takes a village to raise a child"...I think so often we consider the village is other adults...my experience on Wednesday reminded me that this does not have to be the case!

Certainly not all people (adults or teens)are trust-worthy enough to leave our children with; common sense must play a part in who has access to our children AND we must keep tabs on what our children are doing with them. I do have to say, however, that those teenagers who loved my children on Wednesday made a HUGE impact on my kids...possibly more so than other adults could. There is simply something about teens that appeal to kids! It is definitely worth seeking out a positive group of teenagers to be rolemodels for our kids! I think of camp counselors, summer rec instructors, or swim-teachers...all possibilities of locations to find those rolemodels for our kids. We cannot go it alone...we need a village...and after Wednesday I would definitely say that that village needs to include members of all age ranges!

On a side note...I made a point to go to the teens when they were gathered together in a classroom and THANK them for including my kids...I got choked up as I tried to explain the impact that their kindness to the kids had on their mama. We are truly blessed.