Children In The House

Having children in the house can be a double-edged situation.

On one hand, they can be irritating, obnoxious and inconsiderate. They also make unwanted demands on your precious time. They sap your energy, break your concentration when you are doing something really important and they can drive a saint to rage and despair with their persistent attempts, whether maliciously intended or not, to get your goat and drive you up the wall.

But they are also, in the final analysis, the reason why we are here and why we strive to be greater than what we are. They arouse the most overpowering feelings of tenderness and affection. They make us laugh with their frolics and antics, sympathize with their fears and anxieties and marvel at their emerging genius and intellect.

Because they are our future, we protect their welfare and safety with our very lives and it is in them that we realize the only form of immortality we can have on this earth.

I have asked myself so many times what is it about children that I like the most. Upon reflection I can come up with one answer.

I like children best because they are the ones who can teach us the greatest lesson about life and the art of living. For them, life is the greatest adventure and that the best way to get the best of what life has to offer one must go boldly into the world and embrace new experiences with zest and boundless enthusiasm.

To them the world is an exciting arena of opportunities and infinite possibilities, an exciting a colorful playground to cavort and play in. And where harsh reality may be limiting fun, their limitless imagination break down walls and boundaries and redefine that nature of fun and play.

So when there are children in the house I let them play to their heart's content. It can be noisy, disruptive and irritating sometimes and doing something else productive in the midst of such chaos can be next to impossible.

But it can indeed fun especially if you can let down your adult inhibitions, once in a while, and join in. After all, when it comes to finding joy and excitement in the most mundane times and places children are the supreme masters of the art.