Arwen's Review of Landrum's Country Store

My daughter Arwen went on her class field trip today at Landrum’s Country Store. They have a farm and a petting zoo. I wasn’t able to attend the trip with her so I decided I would ask her about it when she got home.  This is how the conversation went:

Me: How was your field trip today?

Arwen: Look at what I got from the field trip (while holding up a feather hair clip).

Me: Where did you get that?

Arwen: Aubrey’s mom bought them for the whole class. They were twenty five cents and she bought all of the class one.

Me: Wow, that’s cool.

Arwen: We saw a peacock and it spread its wings wide and we saw a big fat pig.

Me: What else did you see?

Arwen: I don’t remember.

Me: You don’t remember?

Arwen: Uh…we got on a ride.

Me: What kind of ride?

Arwen: A little tractor ride.

Me: Would you go back?

Arwen: Go back where?

Me: Go back to the farm?!

Arwen: Well, yea….I’m hungry.

The moral to this chronicle is some kids just don’t care about farms or the excitement of the trip. Arwen is one of those kids that live in the moment. If it isn’t happening at that second, she doesn’t give a flying flip. I’m sure someday she will come up to me and say, “What was the name of that place that Aubrey’s mom bought the class feathers?” and I will say, “Landrum’s Country Store,” and she will say, “Oh yea, I liked that place,” and smile.

 As parents sometimes we have to remember the things we take in through the eyes of our children aren’t as exciting to them as it is to us. We all get in an uproar when they take their first steps, poop in the potty the first time, and tie their shoes themselves for once. Some of us go to the extreme and document every time our child passes gas. These parents are the ones that have to have pictures of everything their child does for a scrapbook that weighs fifty pounds that they plan to give their son or daughter on their graduation or wedding day. My advice to those parents is whoa there Nelly. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but they don’t care, just like Arwen doesn’t now. I promise you they will not appreciate the eighteen to twenty five years of documenting their every move as you think they will. Save yourself some trouble and stick to the major moments; the chronicle moments that you learn from and enjoy.  Stop trying to get the perfect picture and take it like it is. Stop wasting time lining them up for a smiling picture when their crying and not wanting to do it. Stop getting angry when they don’t cooperate because they are messing up your picture, your memory. The key word there is YOUR. Once again, if they don’t care now odds are fifteen years from now they aren’t going to care then.  Today Arwen went without me on her trip and she was just fine. Had I went with her, yes I’m sure I would take a couple of pictures of her that will either never come off my phone or go in a scrapbook somewhere to never been seen again. It wouldn’t have mattered to take it because fifteen years from now I’m willing to bet that she’s still more worried about her snack.