In a perfect world, our children would all get along with each other. After all, they have homeschooling in common! As Marina points out, there are as many homeschoolers as there are shades of colors, both visible and invisible...
Confession time. My kids don't always get along with every homeschooler they meet. My younger two are especially picky when it comes to picking friends. This shouldn't be unusual to me. I, myself, was picky when it came to my friends. I would be nice to everyone, but I was shy and had specific interests. I also wasn't likely to approach anyone. I would draw until someone noticed and talked to me. Then I would talk to them.
Chase and Sierra tend to be very competitive and have an overdeveloped sense of fairness. In all honesty, they aren't always fair, but they expect it in others. Marina probably encouraged this by being so easy-going. They tend to prefer friends who are like their big sister. I tend to encourage them to make friends with kids who have parents I like. I will work very hard to keep a good parent friend. If it means my kids have to learn to play nicely and give in every once in a while, I consider it a bonus.
8 comments:
love this! I always had a hard time making freinds, my 13 yo has tons of issues and my 6 yo sometimes just melts down all day . . . i'm always celebrating when they DO make a freind! luckily they've been doing pretty well at park day. No, they most often ask to go home because after park day is over, school is over, so they get free video game time . . . . urgg
and i have no idea what 'obfulosm' means.
It's a hard place to be, too. I've tried making homeschool mom friends - and just can't seem to manage it. So -- my kids have very few homeschool friends. Huh. Probably very few friends, now that I think about it. Sigh.
You are so honest! And this comic is SOOO true!
I like to think I am fostering a healthy attitude of patience and acceptance in my kids...but quite often, they get fed up and frustrated. I suppose they still have many years to grow greater tolerance.
I'm a little antisocial myself and I'm trying to step out of my box - especially for the extroverted Boy Child. You're right, it is easier to make the effort if the parent friend is someone I gel with.
Great post!
While I try to instill in the kids a need to be respectful and fair to everyone, I also try to respect their opinions about who they want to be close with.
We have been very lucky, finding a great group of homeschoolers right around us, with lots of great parents who, as you say, I like! That is so important, especially since good parent friends tend to have good kid friends.
:-)
Karen
So true! Since when do we homeschoolers think that our kids are perfect? We live with them 24/7, so it's obvious that they will have their own selfish moments or just their own preferences...just like their parents. ;-) We try to teach our kiddos that we should be kind to all and not exclude folks, but we can pick who we are closest to.
Oh- and I love the couch comic strip about the couch. for us the struggle is the kitchen counter...very true-to-life!
Have a great week!
*I meant "about the clutter" and not to repeat "couch," but it was a LONG night...
What a great way to raise a touchy topic! This is like a support group. Maybe the internet is not so bad after all. Love, Mom
Hahaha, that's great! =D And of course, normally they tell you this while both the child and the child's parents are standing right there.....
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