This summer we were blessed to be able to take our sons to the ocean. They had the opportunity to swim as well as snorkel, and to learn how to ride the surf.
I love the ocean. My husband does not. He doesn’t like its unpredictable nature, with its strong waves and abundance of living creatures. But we both agree that our children should have the chance to decide for themselves how they feel about the ocean. They may end up loving it as much as I do, or they may join my husband’s camp…but we feel strongly that they should make their own decision, based on their own experiences.
We want to expose them to a wide variety of foods, hobbies, cultures, reading material, arts and people so that they can begin to form opinions about who they are and what they like as individuals. They don’t all like the theater, but we still take them. They don’t all enjoy strange foods, but we still try them.
And they don’t always appreciate learning about other cultures or sitting through concerts or trying new hobbies, but we do it anyway. Sometimes they are pleasantly surprised by something they did not think they would like. Other times, it is just as bad as they thought it would be.
But either way, we are trying not to let our own prejudices and predispositions get in the way as we guide our children through their own discoveries about life.
What a wonderful description of what it is we try to do each and every day as parents: provide our children with experiences and the skills to maneuver through new experiences, good and bad, liked and disliked, fun and not as fun!