Spruce bog

Kids & A Spruce Bog

A Spruce Bog in a forest are open areas where the trees are a big scraggly, the bushes and trees stunted, and they can be enormous with open grass areas.  They are the result of irregular water drainage and highly acidic water.  Ironically some plants are ideally adapted to these conditions.  Some birds, such as the grouse, certain types of sparrows, and the Dark-eyed Junco, thrive in these areas.  Eventually, these areas increase and attract other plants, animals, and birds.

I was hoping you could bring to our kids today that no matter what happens in life, something out there thrives in such an environment.  Your ability to meet the challenges of life and they can be challenging for sure, lies in seeing the opportunities within the chaos, the disorder, the less-than-ideal situations.  Remember the Dark-eyed Junco; they love these stunted areas, are open, not particularly beautiful, and have inferior soil.  What has happened in your life in the past month that you can go back to and see how it moved you to where you are today?

That pushed you to a new understanding or a new tolerance toward others?  We see the beautiful because it is ready right there before us, but what about when things are not quite as you would want them to be?

Teach kids to stop and take a closer look at the incomplete, the errors, the mistakes that seem like a disaster, and help them make lemonade out of lemons. Like the bog with its limited growing conditions, it still becomes something beautiful. Assisting the kids to understand this pushes them to stick with something challenging and use their imagination to make it better.

What can you make sense out of in your life that attracts something better?  It is far nobler to build an attitude, persevere under challenging circumstances, and live in control regardless of our situations. One day, you will find yourself in this big beautiful forest that brings you great joy.  It involves determination and taking the opportunity to calm down enough to see what will be different for you, but still OK, as a result of the challenge or change.

Read this post on determination, which is so closely related to our point here, Determination – Dr. Rich Patterson (pattersonphd.com)

Meaningful Mama has a post about How to Teach Perseverance to kids, click here, How to Teach Perseverance to Kids (meaningfulmama.com)

Leave me a comment below about a situation where you have done this in your own life.

Yours for Better Parenting,

Rich