Sometimes when innocently flipping the TV remote, you can stumble on a classic show that really takes you back to your childhood. Enter tonight’s airing of Little House on the Prairie-LOVE IT! We are adding this one to the DVR. As soon as the theme music starts and the kids tumble down the hill, I’m smiling. And we couldn’t have found a more appropriate episode to watch with the kids than this one: it was Ma and Pa Ingalls’ anniversary. When Pa got delayed when his wagon broke down, Ma begins telling the girls how she and Pa first met. Cue the flashbacks! My kids should literally hug their teachers tomorrow after seeing the mean old schoolteacher, Mr. Watson administer his discipline with a wooden stick. And the comment of the night: “they didn’t have cell phones!?!” Yes, children, you lead a charmed life.
But this was just what they needed to see: simple, uncluttered living; few toys; NO electronics (shocking); and everyone helping the family and their community. Yes, kids, that means chores! We’ve gone so far to the extreme in providing for our kids that we have lost sight of simple living. That less can be so much more. And perhaps in so doing we are turning out ungrateful kids. Granted, I’m not advocating moving out west and living out of an RV-that’s my idea of “roughing it.” But Little House reminds me that principles of family and duty and responsibility need to be seeds sown into the gardens called our children. Just sitting down as a family to watch these lessons played out in front of us I felt was a step in that direction.
But I’m curious: how are you capturing the Ingalls’ spirit with your families? Does it take a total rejection of modern technology and standards? Or can some sort of balance be created?