I’m going to be honest, there are a few words I’m still learning to spell, like “hallelujah” and “bourgeois.” Yup, spellcheck just corrected them both.
There are also things I’m still learning how to do, like bake bread – my baguettes all turn out flat.
So, why then, when I picture the mountain of things my kids still have to learn, do I feel utterly terrified that there are so many things they still don’t know?
I think perhaps it’s the timeline I’ve been given, the one that says when they’re 18 they’re grown. Which I realize is utterly ridiculous because even as their bodies stop growing their brains will continue to learn.
There might be college, graduate school, a doctorate program – and that’s just continued education.
They might pick up a hobby – woodworking, mountain climbing, poetry, piano. They could travel, learn a language, read a hundred thousand books, listen to a million podcasts. They could get really interested in nematodes, plant an enormous garden or study the French Revolution. After all, there is absolutely nothing saying that, once they graduate from high school, stop getting taller or leave my care that they will cease to mentally grow.
In fact, isn’t my own life a testament to exactly that?
The piles of books and newspapers, the playlist stuffed with educational podcasts and the constant rabbit-holes of research I fall down each and every day are evidence that yes, there is indeed new information entering my brain.
Suffice to say, I’m still learning, and I bet when my children are my age, they will be able to say the same. There is no expiration on education, whether it’s quantum physics or how to spell it (which, for the record, just took me three tries).
It’s never too late to try something new, try something again, or try something for the thousandth time. And it’s not my job as a parent to make sure they know everything, just that they have the desire to know something.
Editor’s note: What kind of pie is cooking in your kitchen? If you’d like to share a slice, guest columns are welcome. Columns should be approximately 550 words in length and be on topics of general interest to the local community. No anonymous columns, please. Include a phone number with the submission in case there are follow up questions; the number will not be printed or given out. Columns are published at the editor’s discretion. Send to: Editor, 401 Oak St., Silverton, OR 97381 or email [email protected].
