Birth Place of Four Baby Geniuses--Orange Carpet, My Symbolic Color for Smart!
Not all of my children were born in Ogden, Utah, in a very humble home, during the Reagan Era recessions, where a home loan would cost you an interest of 22%; first daughter, in Salt Lake City, Utah; second daughter, was born, while my husband, Richard or Zeke, was getting his master's degree in Urban Development, at the University of Arizona, in Tucson; third son, was born in Ogden, Utah, as was my fourth son, also born in Ogden. We were very lucky, during that era, to actually find a home, on Eccles Avenue, just below, Harrison Blvd, to purchase on contract. I am a cheap ass, on some things, and making sure we had a roof over our heads, food on the table, and an environment that would afford us the opportunity of continued college, was paramount to a showy home. My children were raised with a diversity of people, from the black postman, to the Vietnamese class mates. My number one goal, was to raise smart children. PERIOD! They were blessed with great genetic contributions from their handsome father, and extremely beautiful mother, LOL! I am allowed to take editorial and writer's license. But everywhere I went with my children, the comment was always, your children are so beautiful, and they still are! Off the charts, model material, every single one of them.
This old issue, I thought was new, found it on the table this morning at the Butte Rescue Mission, until right now, has some really cool, smart titles, that I love: (1) The Beautiful Life of Your Brain; (2) What We've Learned So Far; (3) The Late-Bloomer Phenomenon; (4) Why We Fall for Con Men--Yeah, I wonder why you do; (5) Hang On to Your Hope; (6) Raising Creative, Confident Kids; (7) Jokes That Make You Sound Smart; (8) What It's Like to Notify a Nobel Prize Winner; (9) Quiz: Could You Be a Genius? (10) 123 Ways to Make Wiser Choices for Your health, Home, Family, and Budget.
The Revolution Will Not Be Supervised
If we want our kids to be their smartest, bravest, and most creative and independent selves, we've got to let them play with fire.
This is another article under the Parenting section, accompanied by a picture, I absolutely love, because, that is exactly the way, I let my kids play . . . their is a kid, with a sword in hand, on top of a self made hut, of some sort, made with odds and ends, and looks like crap, but a kids dream, to have a parent who allows them, to create their own tree house, or club house, rather than buying some standard box supply from a box store! While I was attending Weber State University, while raising these four brilliant, free, alive, critical thinkers, who were so creative, that I was shocked by the spook alleys, the Barbie play lands, with Christmas lighted villages, all over their upstairs bedroom; their Michael Jackson's, Thriller, with baby brother in shredded overalls and black scars on his chubby infant cheeks, along with the popcorn, cup cakes, and lemonade, served to Mormon church leaders, who my children, convinced, without my knowledge to come to their play on the front porch, or the witches brew, stirred in old fashioned tin garbage cans on the side of the house, that caught a ton of rain, filled with leaves, worms, wild mushrooms, twigs and other strange additions . . . my children, were allowed, much unsupervised time, as far from sitting right on top of them, like helicopter parents do now . . . scream! I was generally, either doing household chores, laundry, yard work, cleaning, or I was studying in the kitchen pursuing my 12 year college degree, in the front room, and watching them from afar, as they played on the church lawn across the street, or on the front porch or lawn, or while they were on the swings in the back yard.
A child's work is their play! I always paid attention to articles, on raising smart kids, what it took, what it looked like, and I remember reading that while America schools, are seen as, perhaps inferior to say, Japan and German schools, who push their children, to make decisions about careers, generally, in about our junior high, time period, sending them either in the direction of technical schools, or college routes, the American kids, where given more freedom, a much less structured and more free classroom and homework schedule, than their peers in Europe and Asia, by the time, they hit, college, the kids in those systems were burned out, stressed out, and in Japan, there were a ton of suicides, because there was so much pressure to succeed in life, that those who could make the grade, were disgraced and took to saving face, rather than disappoint their parents and teachers. The American students, many of them, considered to be under performing, would hit college and grow by leaps and bounds, with little pressure, other than to find what field of study they liked and then engage in that course of study, often changing majors, colleges, with freedom, and then the intelligence, the creative juices, the ideas, innovations, and challenge caught their imaginations, and the game was on! I would consider myself a late bloomer, who didn't his my stride, until college, and maybe not, until, I was going to the United States Supreme Court! LOL! My brain is my favorite playground!
Some of the pictures in this Genius Issue, thrilled me to no end, because, my kids were filthy dirty and exhausted, by the end of each fun filled day, entertained by their own creative energy, their tenacious pursuit of something to do, and the freedom to explore at will, within safety limits, set by a rather liberal mother, within reason. I think I told this story, but, it also shows, that just because you allow children freedom, you have to symbolically let them play with fire, while protecting them from their own curiosity. One hot summer night, in about July, with fireworks, in Utah, coming at the 4th of July and then again, at the 24th of July, the date, Brigham Young saw the Salt Lake Valley and said, this is the place, or in God's Revolver lyrics, referencing that statement, "this is a place." Several pre-teen boys, who literally did play with fire, asked my kids if they wanted to go over to the church across the street and watch them light off bottle rockets. My very good children, rather than just go, came and asked me if they could watch the show, over at the church. I told them no, they could sit with me on the front porch, and we would all watch them together.
Not two seconds later, the huge trees behind the Boy Scout building on the church ground, lite on fire, and the whole tree was a blazing inferno, and I could see the fire, in my children's eyes, as the tree, seemed to blow up into flames, burning the trees and part of the building, before the cops, the firefighters and others came to gather to see the blazing mess, in the hot July late afternoon. This was a great teaching moment, one a mother could only die for, and staying as straight faced as I could, I said, see what happens, if you don't listen to your mother, you might get burned, in trouble with the cops and the fire department, and create a huge, expensive mess, your parents would have to pay for. They all four, stood their dumbfounded and a bit scared, grateful, that they didn't just go and watch the fireworks, without asking permission first! LOL! Needless to say, they were all very obedient children, for the most part, and the other part, they didn't tell me about . . . they are still very protective of what they will and will not disclose about various brother or sister's, escapades! I told them, I didn't want to know, what they had done, until they were over the age of 40 years old, and they had turned out okay. They are getting there! LOL! I know they have many secrets, but I don't know them, as far as I am concerned, they are the perfect children and I love them dearly, and that, my dear, is why so many people want to claim them as theirs!
Moses was raised in the courts of Pharaoh, preparing to lead the children of Israel out of bondage; David was sold, into slavery, in Egypt, but rose to almost absolute power in that land, being praised and esteemed, for over 400 years, until the children of Israel, too his bones from the tombs in Pharaoh's burial grounds, and brought them home with his kin, and where his heart was. I guess of mothers in those days, could let their babies and teens, go, or deal with them being taken, for a higher cause, I guess I can too. They are amazing, and the powers that be, that have wrestled for them, better watch out, much like Moses, when he killed the Egyptian, you may train them, but you don't have their hearts, I promise that! But that will be your lesson, and hopefully, you don't need the plagues of Moses to let my children go . . . Great stuff, get a hold of a copy of both the Bible and the Reader's Digest!
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