Look out world - he's comin' through!

This little boy thinks he owns the world. He’s a cute kid and likely the center of his grandmother’s universe. That’s the way five-year olds should be: happy, confident and ready to take on the world. He’s undoubtedly a handful and a hoot for his family.

On the bus today I watched a tiny infant blissfully snuggled against its mom’s chest as she read the classified ads. It’s a good thing that people are having children. In the 70′s the goal was zero population growth. Although it sounded good at the time, the perspective of 30 years illustrates that we need a continually refreshed supply of young brains and brawn for the heavy lifting, mental and physical, that thriving societies require. The world desperately needs people who grow up and solve the pressing challenges of their time. World-wide poverty, disease, environmental degradation, safe abundant water, and economic scarcity are thorny problems that will be with us for a long time. We also need them to farm, build, drive, excavate, rebuild, and countless other chores.

Their work is cut out for them. Our work is to provide a safe, nurturing and nourishing enviornment that stimulates their innate curiosity. If a parent commutes an hour and a half each way to and from work, if they are lucky enough to have a job, you can be that there’s not much life energy left to feed, teach, guide and inspire a child. Healthy communities can go a long way to fill in the gap that stretched parents everywhere know all too well. Drama Princess at the Laundromat and Legion of Grandparents are two of many blog posts that address the challenge of parenting and offer suggestions that just might help.

For more info: New Community Vision advocates gathering as a community with intention to get to know others and to brainstorm for solutions to our universal problems of housing, child and elder care, food, nutrition, job creation and social isolation. When our communities become resources for support and encouragement, individuals and families will become empowered.

Tags: children, grandparents