A bucket list for our children
Everyone says this time goes by so fast. As I rock my baby to sleep, I see other bloggers sending their children off to college. I know it won’t be long until I’m doing the same. My son’s eyelids fall, and I dream of the life I think we all hope we can give our children.
What do we want our kids to experience? What type of adults do we hope they become?
We love making bucket lists of everything we want to see and experience. (Even Tsh has one.) What would I add for my child? What would any of us add? I started to write.
A bucket list for our children.
1. Do good things for people without them ever knowing, even when it feels like an inconvenience.
2. Read the entire Little House on the Prairie series together like Jamie’s family did.
3. Give to people with less than you. Don’t just pass them money or stuff you don’t want anymore. Really give, because when you do, you’ll discover how much you receive in return. And you will learn that more stuff and more money don’t equal more happiness. They never will.
4. Play team sports like you’re part of a team. And learn sports that don’t require a team.
5. Keep this mother daughter journal or this mother son journal. I designed the series of letters and activities in these two journals to help mothers and children bond together, confide in one another, and learn the stories in one another’s hearts and minds.
6. Learn the joy of winning and the humility of losing.
7. Know how to bake cookies. And share them. This skill is especially useful in college.
8. Learn how to bait a hook and fish. It sounds like such a cliche, doesn’t it? But for me, gaining this skill came with so many other childhood lessons: Always pack a sun hat. Know your surroundings. (You don’t want to start a fishing trip by snagging a tree, a pile of rock, or your sister’s shorts. Especially those shorts!) Don’t leave the worms in the car (or anything else that will melt, bake, or die). Start the day early. Stop talking so much (or the fish will never bite!).
9. Know the stories and traditions of your family.
10. Do something monumentous as a family like Renee’s family is doing.
11. Play an instrument, even if it’s only long enough to know how to read music. You never know when your grandma will be looking for a duet partner or someone to pass time with.
12. Write thank you notes like it’s second nature because it should be.
13. Dislike someone’s actions, but never hate a person.
14. Know you’re capable of really awesome things, even if it takes years to get there like building our home in the airplane hangar did.
15. Tell people, “Thank you.” Every day. Your teachers, employees, and grocery clerks will appreciate it. And they deserve it.
16. Call your mom or write to her from camp. (If you forget, your dad will call and remind you. And that’s a bad thing.)