One motto I learned from a college auxillary group I belonged to many years ago was "Friendship is essential to the soul" Oh, how true this is. I have had the privilege to share in many great friendships throughout my lifetime. As seasons of life change some of those relationships become distant. I have a friend who says as we get older it gets harder to find deep friendships like the ones you share when you are younger.I've been thinking and praying a lot about relationships in the life of my kids. Princess shared with me this need and the difficulty she faces in connecting with teens her own age. She says they are shallow and only seem interested in things that are of no substance. I'm sure this is true. It is easy to feel guilty and think homeschooling is to blame but I remember her K-7 years when she was in traditional schools. There weren't many relationships that moved beyond the playground or classroom chatter.
Princess is similar to me in the way she thinks - deeply and introspectively. She doesn't want to talk about TV shows or stars she wants to talk about life and the future. I understand that. I often tell her that college will present a wider pool from which to choose like minded individuals to befriend. With that in mind, we have to be selective in our college choices. I pray she can hold on that long (2 years) to find those meaningful connections.
We had house guests over the last two weeks. The children with us were formerly homeschooled but now attend public school. Although it got very loud around here with so many kids I know my kids were having a ball. They had built in social time and they took advantage of every moment. I asked those kids what they liked better, homeschool or PS. They all said homeschool. I said what about all the new friendships you've gained and they all shrugged as if those relationships were really unimportant. Hmmm....that was surprising to my kids but enlightening.
Our guests left last night and my kids were kind of bummed. They really looked forward to those talks and social time each evening when they all arrived here from school. I kind of enjoyed it too.
Head over to weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers to see what other moms were up to this week.
We can relate on friendships. My oldest really desires a social connection. We attend park days and we are apart of a co-op but he needs a hs best friend I am going to try my best to make sure he builds deep relationships with a few other boys his age.
ReplyDeleteYour Princess sounds a lot like my ninth grader. It is really hard whether you homeschool or not to find a friend that shares the same interest as you. I can remember the many friends I had in High School by the time I graduated I only had one and we are still friends fifteen years later.
ReplyDeleteI love the poem. Thank you for sharing.
I enjoyed reading your blog! I've heard this quote soooo many:
ReplyDelete“In your entire life, you can probably count your true friends on one hand. Maybe even on one finger.
What I've noticed though is that the quote doesn't cover the fact that you have to "be" that kind of friend. That has been something that I've been working on for a few years now. "Being" the kind of true friend that a person needs/wants. It's been tough for me but I think I'm getting the hang of it.
I thank God for bringing people into my life who didn't cast me aside when I didn't measure up.