Floods, Thunder and Opportunities
Our recent flooding on the farm got me to thinking about learning opportunities. Farm Dad and I are always looking to turn every thing into an experience of learning for the farm children. Our daily living provides a variety of ways to accomplish this goal. From farm animals to sibling squabbles, opportunities to grow and learn are numerous.
Warning. This is not always an easy task. It takes effort, thought and sometimes quite a bit of creativity. This is not a job for the fainthearted as it is constant. However the possible side effects are: you will have thoughtful offspring who can rationalize, process and work out many issues, problems, and life situations. Let me give you a few examples.
We'll start with our more recent, the flooding on our farm. Flooding is not anything new to us here on the farm. We get flooded once, twice maybe more in a year. It's one of those things we just didn't know about until we had already built the house. Usually the excess water merely floods over the driveway, making it impassable for a few hours. A few times Farm Dad has missed work but for the most part, it's not too inconvenient. On the other hand, excessive rains for long periods of time have been known to flood our basement. It never fails to shock me to wake up after a night's rain and see all the water on our property. We have a few farm kids who get quite excited (as in dramatic..."oh no, what are we going to do?") when they see all the water.
It was on such an occasion that one of the Farm Kids was in a slight panic about all the water and us being stuck home (as if we were going anywhere to begin with). I turned the conversation around. Instead of "feeding" the problem by saying things such as, "I don't know what we're going to do!" or "This is awful!" I, the parent took charge of the conversation, told the child to stop panicking and talked to all of the farm kids about how to handle situations of difficulty. I explained to them that asking God "What do you desire me to learn in this situation?" is a perfect starting point. I talked to them about life being full of inconveniences and often things that aren't "planned" by us, but we need to be looking for what God has for us to learn in each and every life situation. That Farm Child later said they knew that God was trying to teach them to not complain and to be calm in hard situations and how to get by when things are not "normal" (This child was five years old at the time). A lesson well learned and still in process.
Another example: A few years ago we had a storm that was accompanied by a lot of very loud thunder and bright, flashing lightning. We suddenly lost power and the house became very dark. This terribly frightened one of the farm kids who immediately began to scream, cry and carry on. I quickly shouted for the child (I was not right with her at the time of the power outage) to be quiet, as I was on my way with a flashlight. I realized that night that I hadn't prepared my children for such a situation. I immediately gathered the children to me and began to talk with them on what they should do in this type of situation. I instructed them that anytime it storms and the lights go out, they are to stop and sit on the floor right where they are and to sing or say memorized Bible verses about fear until I come to them with a flashlight. I had them repeat back what was expected of them the next time we lost power. Each time we are getting ready to have a storm we discuss the process again so everyone is clear on what I expect. I have found when we make our expectations clear each time, there is no question in the children's mind what they should do. We've been over it, they know and act on what they now know.
Situations like these, when turned into learning opportunities, prepare the children for life in the real world, teach problem solving skills, self-control, and countless other lessons. I encourage parents everywhere to "make the most of every opportunity" to train your children. Yes, it's hard work. Yes, it takes thought and wisdom. Yes, it requires Dad and Mom to get up and get in the "game". However, the results are lasting, eternal, life changing for those involved in the learning. Look for opportunity and you'll find it!
