I bought an actual bushel of cherries at the farmer's market this week. (Although now that I've googled exactly what that means, its possible that the load is more peck-sized?) Either way, it's a lot. I did it a little out of pity for the farmers who'd had a slow day at the market, concerned that all the fruit would go bad on the hot truck driving back to their farm. There was also some peer pressure from the lady next to me who claimed she was leaving town but if not she'd totally go for it, but she can't, so I should. She said, give it to your neighbors. And I thought, yes!
Within an hour of coming home with my bushel the kids started loading up paper lunch bags for deliveries. We had a quick lesson in quality control - remove the icky ones - and off they went. Soon they were dashing out the door and down the street. The first person my six-year-old thought of was Joyce, our 90-year-old next door neighbor. He ran off without a glance over his shoulder or a request for me to come. It was a proud parenting moment. The thoughtfulness, the generosity, the independence.
I can only hope to maintain these guiding values throughout summer, which started yesterday! (EEK!)
I'm also filing this away as a good summer activity when I lose the desire to plan, entertain or parent at all: Just follow a few simple few steps to get kids involved and thinking of others:
Step 1: Pick, bake, craft or gather something (fruit, baked goods, art)
Step 2: Give it away to those who might enjoy a small surprise (i.e. anyone)
Here is the digital list I’ve collected this week:
Father's Day dinner for our #1 guy is prepped
For my mini dudes this summer
A roundup of local of good eats
Looking forward to diving into the Let Grow book list
A big vote for Jonathan Haidt's four norms in this long form piece
“Saturday” book review and a sweet tradition:
How to upcycle all the kids art that came home this week, plus summer supplies
And let them make more art, inspired by real works from libraries and museums around the world
Another voice urging me to just start, from a mom who also felt stuck but called to write (and now I want to read her new book even more!):
The best low-key list. I want to try numbers 6 and 7:
