I am a Reality TV addict. Top Chef, Project Runway, The Real Wives of New York City, The Nanny, Sell This House, The Girls Next Door, ......embarrassing but true. It's like looking through windows when someone leaves their curtains open. Superficial insight. A new catch word for these edited glimpses of real people with a camera on them 24/7.
One show that it a particular favorite is Clean House. A crew goes into a home and organizes the family. The hosts cajole, plead and barter to clear out the clutter, sell it in a garage sale and redo the house. Grown men and women are reduced to tears as their lava lamps, Nascar posters and high school prom dresses are placed on the lawn to be sold and carted away. "But I might need eight non-operational lawn mowers." "I am planning to weave Navajo rugs one day-please don't take my loom." Two hundred and fifty two dusty and moldering beanie babies? "They're gonna come back. I just know it."
A glimpse in these houses is really not funny. Chaos, disarray and clutter do not a happy home make. Boxes piled everywhere, closets overflowing, counters strewn with this and that- this is no place to raise a family.
Home should be a sanctuary for us. A place that means safety and security. Home should be a calm and restful oasis where family and friends feel comfortable and welcome. The word cozy comes to mind. What our children associate with their home is the model they will carry with them to their own home and in their own family.
Chaos, disarray and clutter can come in many forms. The atmosphere in a home can be destructive or constructive. It can be consistently positive or always negative. A house can be safe and loving or volatile and angry. A happy home can be a blessing. A chaotic home can be a curse.
It's a gift to your children and to yourselves to make where you all live together a place you all want to be. If necessary, start addressing concerns and problems. Step back and look in as if the curtains are open and you are on the street. Where can you reorganize and revamp the climate and the atmosphere of your home? How are issues and frustrations handled? How are differing opinions voiced? How does your family interact socially? How do you express love and affection for each other? What are priorities in your household? Standing out, looking in, what do you see?
Have a big old internal garage sale. Get rid on the clutter and the junk and the old stuff that is carried around like an albatross. Keep all the things that make your tribe unique and important to all of you. Spring Clean. Revamp. Refresh. Renew. Claim a rebirth for who you are as a family.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
3 comments:
As a teacher I can attest to the fact that lots of american kids are being raised in unstable and chaotic situations........ putting aside drugs, abuse and divorce, many sort of raise themselves without direction or guidance.
Communication is limited to raised voices for attention and doors slamming as the adults leave for work, and their own pursuits. A home life as we would hope all children experience is non-existent for many. Structure, discipline, nurturing, protecting-
not happening.
So, what's the answer? Schools can't be expected to raise America's children and lots of households are not doing it either.
Government care does not a productive and independent society make. C
Parents will be expecting the gov to put up beds every night at school
we already start taking pre- schoolers to a full day of school, open the doors early, feed 2 out of three meals and let the parents p/u their kids at dark or after work....you're looking at maybe 4 hours of awake time at home with parents and 10 hours at school.
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