Curious Parents Parenting Resources

Parenting is an Act of Faith
Publisher’s Note

Parenting is an act of faith.  We never really know how much of what we try to teach our children is actually getting through to them.  Do they remember to look both ways when crossing the busy intersection?  Will they grow up to be smart and kind?  Do they remember the biology lesson about how trees grow a new ring every year or the history lesson about ancient Egypt?  Every once in a while, kids will give us a brief glimpse that confirms some of our parental preaching is actually getting through to their emerging character. 

Our son Edison is enormously inquisitive and acquisitive.  He hasn’t met an animal he doesn’t want to bring home and keep forever.  He even visited the zoning office at town hall to ask the zoning officer if we could file for a zoning variance to allow us to keep a mule in the garage.  We have tropical fish and a turtle and a year ago, Edison saved up his hard earned allowance to buy a parakeet at the local pet store.  Princess came home with us on a promise that Edison would feed her, freshen her water and clean her cage every weekend.  He dutifully read the colorful paperback about the care and feeding of parakeets and patiently tamed the bird to sit on his finger and walk from one shoulder to the other on her weekly vacations from her cage.

One afternoon, I came home from work to find Edison sobbing and upset that Princess had died.  After an appropriate period of mourning, Edison set to work.  He disappeared out to the garage and returned a half hour later with a sarcophagus fashioned out of rusty nails and scrap wood.  Princess was gently placed in the sarcophagus and Edison and his siblings left to bury her in a neatly groomed section of the back yard. 

This weekend we did our spring clean up and I walked past Princess’ grave.  I learned a lot about our son and what lessons have infiltrated his character from his reaction to losing his cherished pet.  There was now a three foot oak cross marking the grave –Catholic school and mass on Sundays have taught him that there is a God and a promise of life after death and his compassion for his pet compelled him to prepare her properly for that life.  Edison made the cross from oak, not the easier to saw pine, but hard, durable oak.  I guess he remembered the discussion about how oak is harder than other woods because the rings grow closer together and it lasts longer in weather.  At the foot of the cross was a plaque with “Princess” written in neat cursive using silicone caulk.  It must have been the same caulk we used to seal the bathroom tiles when we worked on them together last year.

My glimpse of Princess’ neat backyard grave was also a glimpse to the future of a child who is growing up into a compassionate, caring human being.  Between the griping and bickering and sibling clashes, it’s encouraging to know that something is sinking in after all.

John Piccone is the Publisher of Curious Parents