Don't Forget the New Kids!

A couple of years ago, Steve and I went to a homeschool conference and came home with the same thought: we can't forget the new crew.

We were so careful of how we brought up the top half of the family: no T.V., little sugar, lots of Bible, lots of reading aloud, family time and all the other things that you know are important and make such an issue of when you have your first children.  Unfortunately, the busyness of the older kids and their involvement in the world, simply because they are older, means that the younger ones are both exposed to things at a younger age that the older ones weren't, and that we don't have as much time to make sure we do the important things with our younger ones.

Part of that is just choosing your battles.  The older kids are always saying, "We never got to do that when we were their age!"  And that's true.  The older the kids got, the more there were of them than us and the bigger they were.  The worst thing that happened to our family was The Lord of the Rings and that is one of my favorite books and movies of all time.  The problem is, it opened the door for PG13 movies that has never closed.  Coincidentally, we moved in with my mother and she brought cable TV into the house, which we got used to.  Now, the New Crew, as we call them, has decided that if a show is not animated, it's a grown-ups movie, as opposed to the Old Crew, who watched John Wayne and Gary Cooper movies.  Partly, it was just easier not to fight, and partly, we decided some things were not worth fighting over.

But, at the same time, there are things we need to review. I recently realized that the New Crew don't know the New Testament!  They are pretty good on the Old Testament, but we need a refresher on the New Testament.  Right now we are reading through Matthew.  We need to have another go around on the Little House on the Prairie Books. We need to throw a baseball around for recess. We need to take the dog for a walk. I need to make sure they practice their instruments, since we aren't going to the public school for band anymore. We need to make beds! I must be the one to get them to bed so that we pray together, instead of relying on an older sibling to do it.

Steve has observed that if the older kids turn out well, life is easier on the younger kids. If the older kids don't turn out well, parents are tougher on the younger ones. That seems to have held true for our family, since the older kids are godly dears. Since we are moving next month, we get a chance to start fresh in so many ways, like cut down to one T.V., cancel the cable, take walks with the dog, get going on a chore chart and pray diligently with my children when they go to bed. And onward with Little House and the book of Matthew!