Never a Dull Moment
[Warning: The following post may make no sense whatsoever. The management takes no responsibility for the confusilment the reader may experience]
So I just casually mentioned that we would be interested in having our name put onto the "Foreign Exchange" student home stay list.
Never thought another thing about it. After all I was in full holiday gear.
Lots of company, Lots of snow.
And
Lots of Lots More Happening In Our House.
The next day, the phone rang. Would we consider taking on an exchange student for seven weeks starting in two days?
Hmmm.
How does one decide?
It took me back to when I phoned my mother to tell her I was pregnant with our third child. We were still in the throes of grieving the loss of my husband's mom, my father-in-law was back from a trip to Africa and was very sick, my two year old was being toilet-trained[ and it wasn't going that well, if you know what I mean] , I was sick as a dog, we had moved, my husband was starting a new business......
Her immediate comment was "It's probably not very good timing to be having a baby now is it?" I said to her "Mom, it's never a good time to have a baby".
The fact is, that many decisions of life have very little to do with 'good timing'. If you wait until the perfect time to have children/ take a new job/ try a new skill/ take a new course/etc/ life will pass you by. We are all flying by the seat of our pants, making our way as best as we can.
So back to the student.
We decided to say yes. It is a short term commitment (which immediately seemed longer due to the fact that there was very little sleep for the first four nights ) and it is something that we have talked about doing for a long time...so now we are doing it!
So far, it's been a ride. The child is in a new culture, with strangers, in a new home, strange food, and there has been lots of activity around the house. There is lots to learn about boundaries and expectations. One nice thing for me is to be able to say "not my child". Ultimately, the success of this child has nothing to do with our parenting skills. What a difference from raising three of our own!
[Sidebar: If you've ever watched "The Pink Panther", there's a great quote in there.. the detective asks a man "Does your dog bite?" The man answers "No". The inspector reaches out to pet the dog, and the dog bites him. The inspector says to the man "I thought you said your dog did not bite". The man replies "It's not my dog". - that's kind of how I feel. "Does your child behave?". "Yes"...."I thought you said your child behaved!" "It's not my child". ]
It will certainly be interesting to look back at this experience and evaluate whether it was the right decision or not. At the very least, I can truly say that there is never a dull moment!
So I just casually mentioned that we would be interested in having our name put onto the "Foreign Exchange" student home stay list.
Never thought another thing about it. After all I was in full holiday gear.
Lots of company, Lots of snow.
And
Lots of Lots More Happening In Our House.
The next day, the phone rang. Would we consider taking on an exchange student for seven weeks starting in two days?
Hmmm.
How does one decide?
It took me back to when I phoned my mother to tell her I was pregnant with our third child. We were still in the throes of grieving the loss of my husband's mom, my father-in-law was back from a trip to Africa and was very sick, my two year old was being toilet-trained[ and it wasn't going that well, if you know what I mean] , I was sick as a dog, we had moved, my husband was starting a new business......
Her immediate comment was "It's probably not very good timing to be having a baby now is it?" I said to her "Mom, it's never a good time to have a baby".
The fact is, that many decisions of life have very little to do with 'good timing'. If you wait until the perfect time to have children/ take a new job/ try a new skill/ take a new course/etc/ life will pass you by. We are all flying by the seat of our pants, making our way as best as we can.
So back to the student.
We decided to say yes. It is a short term commitment (which immediately seemed longer due to the fact that there was very little sleep for the first four nights ) and it is something that we have talked about doing for a long time...so now we are doing it!
So far, it's been a ride. The child is in a new culture, with strangers, in a new home, strange food, and there has been lots of activity around the house. There is lots to learn about boundaries and expectations. One nice thing for me is to be able to say "not my child". Ultimately, the success of this child has nothing to do with our parenting skills. What a difference from raising three of our own!
[Sidebar: If you've ever watched "The Pink Panther", there's a great quote in there.. the detective asks a man "Does your dog bite?" The man answers "No". The inspector reaches out to pet the dog, and the dog bites him. The inspector says to the man "I thought you said your dog did not bite". The man replies "It's not my dog". - that's kind of how I feel. "Does your child behave?". "Yes"...."I thought you said your child behaved!" "It's not my child". ]
It will certainly be interesting to look back at this experience and evaluate whether it was the right decision or not. At the very least, I can truly say that there is never a dull moment!
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