Adult Swim

Today was among the best days of the summer of 2016 thus far!  The kids and I ventured to The Texas Pool and met up with several different homeschooling friends.  This is the third year that my family has been enjoying this epic-Texas-shaped bit of paradise in Plano.  They went one time and they were hooked on the slides, the friendly people, the community, the list goes on and on.  But today I wanted to write a little bit about something that actually comes from a conversation I had with two Mom-friends yesterday.  The conversation revolved around going from an adult-centered culture to a child-centered culture.  I thought about our family read-aloud the night before, "Farmer Boy".  I recalled how Almanzo was the youngest and at Christmas dinner he had to wait for the adults to eat first, it was hard for him to be patient but he was.  Almanzo would have never talked back to his father or disrespected him.  Such is the result of an adult centered culture where good behavior and following rules are expected of children.  I put in my two cents in with regard to what I read in Farmer Boy and then expressed that I felt like my parents generation was much more adult centered than the current generation is, I asked how it could change so quickly.  One Mom suggested that that this is a direct result of the contraceptive mentality and that we are taught to only have a small amount of children so that we can focus all of our time, energy and finances on those few.  I thought about this a lot last night and then a memory came back to me from the pool last year.  I recall a young life guard approached me, he asked if I would want to partake in a 15 minute adult swim and make the kids get out of the water.  I told him that no thanks,  I wouldn't want to make the kids upset.  I could recall a memory from my childhood in which my Mom partook in adult swim, (very gleefully too.)  All the kids stood around and whimpered and whined.  I remember my Mom with this HUGE smile on her face swimming laps.

Fast forward to today, the kids were swimming, we had been at the pool for about 3 hours and the lifeguards kicked all of the kids out of the pool and I heard the words "adult swim".  I jumped out of my lounger brought up yesterdays conversation and told my friends that even if I didn't want to swim, I was going to jump in because kids need to be taught to respect their parents need for fun and exercise too.  I freestyle-raced my friend Bobbi and became breathless.  The kids stood and watched us like they had never seen such a sight.  Some complained but not all.  There was room to move about and get a quick workout in.  For a short period of time the pool was serene and calm.  But soon after it returned to it's normal state of bedlam with the kids jumping in and being their boisterous selves.  What a great lesson for me, to take those breaks when they're offered to you.  Not only is it good for my mind, body and soul, it's good for my kids to see me have fun and to respect my need for it as well.