The Great Outdoors

Today we took a little excursion over to Washington Farms in Watkinsville to pick out a few pumpkins. Besides providing us with wonderful photo opportunities, it gave Elijah a chance to run around his favorite place: outside. The very mention of this word encourages him to fetch his shoes (and sometimes ours) like a golden retriever, and to stomp his little feet hurriedly as he anticipates the opening gateway to freedom.

I'm not quite sure why he loves the great outdoors, and not sure whether this is a faze all kids go through, or whether this will fortell his future interests. I truly hope its the later, and he'll be more naturally drawn to using his imagination in the expanse of nature, rather than glued mindlessly to the television inside. Maybe the bent is inborn, perhaps its a product of the environment, or maybe its both. But I won't hesitate to influence where I can.

As I grow older, I am becoming increasingly aware of missed opportunities--none of them being a television show, a video game, or even a movie. Not that entertainment is bad or not enjoyable. In fact, I am rather too fond of my guilty pleasures. If left to my own devices, I could excel at being a couch potato. I just hope that I can steer my own child to greater things than his father before him. Teach him to embrace and experience life, rather than succumb to the amusement that this culture has to offer.

Alas, parenting is leadership. And the bad part of such a decision, is that I must go first.