Where do all the $10 water bottles go? How about the three pairs of goggles lost in the last week? Is there a hidden graveyard for them? How about all the sweatshirts lost over the years? Or the soccer balls with our name and number on them … where have they all gone? Worse yet, how about the pair of tennis shoes that my son lost last month … a pair he wore to school and actually lost there!!!!
“Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn’t hard to master,” poet Elizabeth Bishop wrote. Thankfully I am not a poet and I don’t have to accept the annoyance of my kids losing things. Here’s my fear: that they don’t have any consequences for losing things.
I suppose there is a simple solution to all this. Reward them when they bring their stuff home. That way, I don’t have to deal consequences – which really would only require them handing me money. Yet, reward or consequence really is not going to solve what is bugging me … which is why do these objects seem to mean so little to my kids? Of course, these items are relatively cheap and can be replaced. And, as my kids just say, “I’ll pay you back.” But really, that’s not the point, right?
Sometimes I try to remind myself that the loss of a pair of tennis shoes or goggles is not evidence of a character flaw or that they won’t survive in adulthood. Of course, I ‘ve taken to having a few more water bottles and goggles around. And I figure that this is all part of growing up — eventually, they will get the hang of keeping track of their own things.
Yet, somehow, I want to teach my kids that there is a reason to come home with everything you left with. Isn’t it my job to teach them these things? But isn’t is also their job to hang on to their water bottle and take it home? This might not make them better people but maybe it will make me feel better! Maybe that’s my next approach!
Keep track of all your “things” today!
theyearof50 