Person A: How many children do you have?
Person B: Biological, spiritual, emotional, or legal
______________________________________________
Person A: How many children do you have?
I have two children, born six years apart. My daughter is 48 and has five children, and my son is 42 and has one child.
Person B: Biological, spiritual, emotional, or legal
That’s a thoughtful take on children. I’m not sure how to answer that, except write about my own involvement with children. Children are our future. All we can do is pass on some knowledge from our own experiences and hope that they can survive whatever is to come in these uncertain and technology-driven times.
I was raised Catholic and I tried to pass Catholic values on to my children. To ground them in moral values of right and wrong. I can honestly say that they have both embraced those values. For which I give thanks to God.
I have been involved with children for a great deal of my life. I was involved with scouting from the age of nine to sixteen. Mainly because of the hikes, camping, and venture weekends of orienteering and obstacle challenges. I was a cub leader at eighteen, Bagheera, and when I emigrated to Canada became a scout leader at twenty-two. I introduced boxing to the scout troop which I quickly vetoed when the first boxing match turned into a one-sided event involving blood.
I married and my wife and I moved into condominium living consisting of thirty-four units arranged in a square around a park-like setting. There must have been about forty children under the age of eleven residing there. As a member of the condominium board and social director, I organized street hockey games, water balloon fights, volleyball tournaments, dodgeball, British bulldog games, bicycle rallies, corn roasts, and many other events for twenty years. I also coached soccer for a number of years, as well as becoming involved in church activities, one of which was taking care of the altar boys’ scheduling.
My daughter birthed triplets, she also had a fourteen-month-old son. The triplets weighed two lbs each at birth and were three months premature. They were born in the middle of August and released from the hospital in early November. At the same time, I was downsized from my job and due to economic reasons, my daughter could not afford to quit her job, my wife and I agreed to look after the grandchildren full-time while my daughter went back to teaching after ten months of maternity leave. I would arrive at their house at 6:30 a.m. when my daughter and son-in-law left for work. My wife would relieve me at 11:00 a.m. when she came back from aqua fitness. She would give them lunch and put them down for a nap and then I would come back at 2:00 p.m. and have them till 5:30 p.m. when my daughter would return from work. We did this for twelve years and I could write many, many blogs on this experience.
I am a big believer in ‘equal love and equal forgetfulness’, we do what we can at the time as circumstances dictate and then move on, never looking back but always forward. We live out our life span understanding that the world is always shifting both technologically and culturally, and the best we can do for our children is to ground them in a value system that reflects respect for others as well as ourselves.
Lensdiary 
You are such a supportive father. It is so nice to see caring people become parents and grandparents.
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Thanks, for your comment. It’s important to try and live up to our responsibilities in the best way we can.
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great take on the prompt, Len. i felt like i got to know you more in this write up. your children and grandchildren are lucky to have you. i admire your philosophy and you are very wise in experience. you quite have a legacy on your family.
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Thanks, Audrine. I prefer to try and write short stories rather then about myself, but you have to go where the prompt leads you.
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You are a pro in raising children ☺️
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Thanks, Reena. I tried my best.
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☺️
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Reblogged this on Reena Saxena and commented:
Children …… By Len
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Thanks, Reena,
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Bless you! I like to think we go into marriage hoping to have children, who will eventually bless us with grandchildren. My husband and I have been blessed four times and we cared for each one so our sons and their wives could go to work and support their families. This was not a burden; it was a joy. At this very moment I am working out the morning arthritis kinks which seem to come more frequently now. But that’s ok; in an hour my not-quite 3-year-old granddaughter Colette will be arriving and we will care for her until 6PM. She is an absolute joy! Today she will learn about The Elf on the Shelf! Oh, the wonders of having children (and grandchildren). Again, bless you!
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I agree one hundred percent. They are a perfect joy and I do not regret one second. Although there were times when I locked myself in the bathroom and closed my eyes to get a two-minute break.
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Reblogged this on NEW BLOG HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Thanks for that. I finally got through to your site, you must have been in transition.
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Great take. You are right ‘It’s important to try and live up to our responsibilities in the best way we can.’
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Thanks for visiting, Indira. Ya gotta do, what ya gotta do.
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My pleasure, dear.
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Great post, you are a good father and grandfather.
Teaching your children a good value system is better than any material gift.
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Thanks for the compliment. i agree a good value system is better than any material gift.
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That must be such a nice happy life
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Thanks, Larry. Hectic but happy.
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You have blessed many children as a father, grandfather, mentor and role model. I love this post. 🥰
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Thanks for your kind comments, Abbi.
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You are a great dad! Beautiful article! Well shared thank you! ☺️
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Thanks for visiting and for your kind comments, Priti.
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My pleasure.☺️do read my blog also.😁
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That is quite some achievement, big families are fun, but still a lot of work. I love watching programmes like ‘ Twenty Three Children and Counting’ .
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Thanks for visiting and commenting. Yes, big families are a lot of work and noisy.
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