Chip Off the Old Block

Recently, Christine and I have been watching Kids by the Dozen, a television program on families with multiple children. It is amazing to see how these special families operate. All of the families profiled have twelve or more children and most of them are home schooled. I can’t wrap my mind around twelve children, much less home schooling these twelve kids.

The Duggar family of Arkansas has been our favorite family to date. They have 16 children, all ranging in age from 18 to less than a year old. There are only two sets of twins, so this mother has actually been pregnant 14 times, and the couple says they are not finished yet! How do you raise 16 children? I must admit, this family is much more organized than mine. A homework assignment was the biggest family project, to build their dream house—which took them over three and a half years.

Christine and I have watched several shows featuring the Duggar family and we are just in awe of how this family works. I know Christine misses not having any younger brothers or sisters, but after having three children, I was ready to quit. Three children were definitely all we could afford to raise. I wanted my kids to have all the opportunities available to them and I wanted them to experience life and make decisions on how they wanted to live their lives.

When my girls were younger, they were involved in many types of extra curricular activities and sports. I wanted the girls to be involved and find what they liked to do. Swimming lessons, tennis lessons, horseback riding and soccer; these were just a few of the activities that my girls tried out, but decided not to pursue. Girl Scouts, 4-H, and mission groups at church; these were a must for all three girls and I think these groups helped my girls grow into the women they are today.

Even though none of my girls are interested in crafting, knitting or sewing, I do know they benefit from the projects I make. I just envisioned my girls growing up and crafting with me, but that never happened. They have their own hobbies and interests. At least Marie is interested in one area of creative arts; she likes to work with stained glass and mosaic tiles. I try to encourage her, but sometimes life gets in the way of being creative. Amber and Marie both love to go hunting and spending time on their dad’s farm. Christine’s world revolves around music.

Of course, as a mother, I have tried to push my likes onto my children. When Christine was three years old, I wanted her to take dance lessons. I had always wanted to give Amber and Marie dance lessons, but I could never afford it. So when Christine came along, I thought she would be my little ballerina. For two years I practically drug her to dance class; tap shoes, ballet shoes, tutus and all. She was so cute when she was all dressed up. I loved preparing for and attending her dance recitals, but after two years, I realized, Christine hated every minute of it. It was my dream for her to be a dancer, not hers, and once I realized this, I stopped making her go to dance class. For the next three years, Christine was happier on the soccer field.

Now that Christine is a freshman in high school, her interests have turned to journalism and a growing obsession with living in Finland. Yes, Finland, as in cold, snow. Land of the midnight sun. For several months now, she has been researching the foreign exchange student program for the United States and Finland. She would like to go to school in Finland during her junior year of high school. I realize this would be a wonderful experience for her, but just the thought of one of my children being half way around the world is really upsetting. I may not get to see Amber and Marie as much as I would like, but at least they are in the same county and I can get to them in just a few minutes. How would I get to Christine in a hurry if she was in Finland? At least we have a year and a half for more discussions and research before having to make a decision.

Christine is in the Newspaper I class at school and she has been the only freshman in a class full of juniors and seniors. She has been researching and writing numerous articles all year, as well as taking photographs for the paper and the year book. Her main goal this year has been to learn and master the editing program for putting the newspaper together and to learn some basic journalism skills. She has already applied for Newspaper II class
next year. Maybe Christine is going to be our “chip off the old block”, after all, Keith’s career revolves around the television media, and this is my 10th year as a contributing writer for Mercer’s Magazine.

© Bobbi Rightmyer, April 2007