So about a week ago it rained enough to have a small pool of water in the play area near our house. The kids found that there were tadpoles in this pool and of course had to catch some. This began a process of feeding and caring for said tadpoles until they become toads. Yesterday was the first time that the little toads made an actual appearance and that got me to thinking about how the process of moving from tadpoles to toads reflects the way that children grow into adults.
The toad begins as a tadpole. Really it looks like a miniature lollipop, basically a circle and a stick. From there it grows and features become more distinctive. The eyes and mouth become more pronounced and then legs begin to sprout. After the legs come the arms and the head matures until finally a little toad has developed. All that was needed was a good environment so that the toad had enough nutrition and support to emerge.
Children are the same way. They begin as tiny, fragile babies with really no hint as to the mature shape they will take. They begin to grow and soon learn to sit up, crawl, walk and talk. If children are given a good environment they will also thrive and feed not only on good food but also on the teaching that occurs in the home. Herein lies a big difference between growing toads and raising children. There is no teaching that can be given to the toads that I'm aware of. Children on the other hand learn a great deal from their parents which will mold them into the persons they become.
Eventually our toads will be big enough that we will have to set them free on the world. There is no training we can give them other than to let them go their merry way. Children also grow big enough and have to be set free at some point in time. I'm not even close to that day coming and believe me there are lots of things left to teach them so they will be ready. I know it will be a difficult day when setting the children free, I just hope to have them prepared well enough in order to live prosperously in this world.
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2 comments:
A lovely and timely post! Thank you.
What BJ doesn't tell you is that we forgot to bring in the toads one day (the two our kids kept from the "litter" we raised) and the Arizona heat killed them. Our son was quite upset. Hopefully we learned our lesson and will keep the kids away from the "heat" when it is too dangerous for them!
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