The Ideal Gardener

GlitteringMuse: The Ideal Gardener

A bit of a parable today from the Glittering Muse; at least I read it that way.

Overtending is bad for not only gardens, but communities.

But most of all, I worry about the over-tending of children. I was just speaking to an elderly coworker who was originally talking about Halloween and how she had no trick or treaters this year. Then we discussed the pocket knives children of yesteryear always carried. On one hand we protect them from guns, knives, unsafe toys and Halloween predators...but is that what we should be protecting them from?

I tend to worry that what we need to protect children from is overscheduling and overtending on the part of parents. My children are no different. They have busy school days, followed by busy evenings of homework, sports practice, socializing.The older ones especially value time on their own just chilling out. It is hard not to just run and schedule every moment with fun family stuff. I want to spend time with them. They are exceedingly cool children. I want them to have recognizable "fun" when they are home with me. But time alone...that is important for them. Just like chores are important.