Go With Me On This...

I keep having this vision of doing "A Day in the Life of..." with my kids. One day, when they least expect it, I want to plan an entire day where we do as much as we can to emulate the life of another family in a poorer culture. Upon waking up we could go for a very long walk that circles back to our house where we will fill and carry jugs of water gotten out of our hose. Instead of walking from the hose back to our house we'll walk the very long walk again. We won't wear shoes. Or turn on the AC. We won't sit on the couch or use the computer or any other electronic devise. We won't snack on teddy grahams or Pirate Booty, we won't snack at all. (For this I will remove all the food from the house.) We will have a mash of lentils and rice for lunch and dinner, and sit on the floor while we eat. We will play with toys that we make out of stuff that we find on our very long walk. I will wear Mia on my back - or maybe Ben will wear Mia on his back? They will nap and sleep on a mat on the floor. We will have a dance party with instruments that we make out of things that we find. We will have a fire pit and Ben and Troy will be in charge of finding all the sticks and wood for the fire (that's actually not too far from the norm).

A lot of these things my children will love - but most of it they will hate, like the food - or lack thereof.

Does this sound like a good idea? I don't know... Will it register with them? Will it have the desired impact? They are just SO beyond privileged. If they lose or break something they get a new one right away. If they are hungry they snack on the sweetest, most delicious food as often as they'd like. They take water with them wherever they go - and extra toys too incase they get bored, even if we're going to the park.

I am grateful, believe me, SO grateful to live where we do. To have the schools and the healthcare and the churches and the FREEDOM. And it probably took me 27 years to learn this kind of gratefulness. But why not give my kids just a taste, a little hint, of what it's like for THOUSANDS of other children. Will it be worth it? I can't say. But I'm praying about it. And I think it'd be pretty awesome if other families wanted to do the same thing with us. I'd love feedback on this! Good idea? Not so goo? Why or why not? Any other ideas for me?

Comments

Anonymous said…
I think its a FABULOUS idea and more will stick than you know. Even if there are not a lot of conscious memories, I'm betting there will be a sensitivity much greater than yours, much earlier than yours. Thanks for the awesome idea! I want to try it too. We are reading through Katie's blog for school :)

Heather Russell
3:32 PM
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