You may already know this, but in case you don’t…
my husband is an Aerospace Engineer.
In plain people speak, he’s a Rocket Scientist.
Yes folks…I’m married to a real life rocket scientist.
He’s crazy smart…but yet, can’t ever figure out that the dirty laundry goes IN the basket and not NEXT to it.
Strange.
So when I saw this little shirt (on clearance) I immediately grabbed it.
Yes, it’s a boy shirt…but apparently only boys can be rocket scientists according to Target.
Evs.
Nothing a posy can’t fix.
But for as soon as I reached for it off the shelf…I stopped in my tracks.
My thoughts tumbled all over themselves and I found myself wondering and processing.
All over a $2.49 shirt.
Let me explain:
I have always struggled with the expectations we put on each other.
On our children.
Putting them into boxes that they don’t fit into.
Every parent jokes that their kids will go to Harvard on full ride scholarships and grow up to be these hugely successful people.
My husband and I both have college degrees.
Both of us are School People.
We both like Academia and while I could do without the tests and homework, I could seriously be a professional student.
I’ve always wanted to go to law school. But never wanted to be a lawyer.
Because law school sounds…FUN.
(I’m weird. I’m fairly certain we’ve established that long ago.)
I worry that our kids will feel pressured to follow our path.
After all, Dad IS a rocket scientist…
And buying a shirt like this only seems to reinforce the pressure of it all.
Because here’s the thing:
I don’t care if my kids go to college.
::gasp::
I know, right?!
Because the truth is that not all of us are MEANT to go to college.
Not all of us are formed to want to read textbooks and sit at desks.
Many of us are better suited for hands on work.
Manual labor.
Dirt under the fingernails kind of work.
AND THAT IS OKAY.
It is not dishonarable to work blue collar.
What is dishonorable is being forced into a world that you don’t belong in so that you squander and squirm under the weight of expectations.
Wasting time trying to live up to who someone else wants you to be.
Rather than succeed and thrive where you were DESIGNED to be.
Would I prefer my kids go to college?
If I’m honest…yeah.
It’s a great experience, and with a degree you can go more places almost without proving yourself. Well, at least at first anyway.
Not going to college is oftentimes the harder path.
You have to put up with ignorance looking down its nose at your lack of a fancy paper hanging on your wall.
You can bet your bottom that if my kids are collge bound, I’ll be helping them apply for the best schools in the nation.
Is this to say that my children can lolly gag about unconcerned about their lot in life?
Oh no. No No No.
Laziness is not an excuse for not living to your potential.
The potential that GOD designed uniquely for you.
And you can bet your bottom that if my kids want to pursue a non-college path, I’ll be right there helping them find the best way to make that work for them.
At the end of the day…
I want my children to understand their strengths.
AND their weaknesses.
(Because our kids DO have weaknesses!!!)
And I want them to do whatever they do for the glory of God.
Simply.
Whether it is being a high powered attorney, a neurosurgeon, a mechanic, a hairdresser, or a mommy…
They are to do it well and they are to do it with honor.
I want them to praise God in their work.
Blue or White.
I want them to flourish in the strengths and passions that God instilled in them…not the ones that I, their father, or society has placed on them.
And the shirt…
well, I obviously bought it anyway.
Because either way, it made Daddy smile when he came home from work yesterday and saw his little Jilly Bean in it.
And sometimes you don’t have to overanalyze everything, right?
“Mommy!!! Take a picture of me! I’m died!”
Happy Thursday friends!
If you haven’t already, donate to Kristin’s walk.
God is good.
Spread the love won’t you?
{and today’s the last day to enter the photography class giveaway too!!!}
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LOVE this post!!!! I SO agree with you!!!!!
I’ll take it a bit further, though…I think that school is pointless…keep going with me…I believe that we should go back to apprenticeships so you KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING and whether you even LIKE it before you get your first job!!! And I mean this for medicine, law, teaching, and auto repair!!!
Love this. Love you.
As the wife a man who tried to be a civil engineer and ended up a farmer (who is also getting his master’s degree) I connect with this idea so much! =)
I look forward to seeing what God has in mind for your beautiful kids!
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LOVE this post. For me, a perfect reminder 3 games into soccer season. Because I played and loved it, OF COURSE my child will play and love it, too. Right? Right? WRONG.
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Well you know that I totally agree with this…school is not for everyone and not everyone who is in school will complete it in the 4 year plan. Me…6 years and another 20 to find the job that I am the happiest in…next to being a mom. God has given all our children different strenths…we need to celebrate them all and they will come into their own in due time….their time not ours!!
Honestly, some of the most intelligent, beautiful people I know do NOT have a college degree. I decided a few years ago that I will never again judge someone based on their level of education. It just doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.
couldn’t agree more. and now that i’m in the college phase with my kids (and peers) it breaks my heart to see moms sheepishly admit their kids are not in college.
if they’re not smokin crack in an alley and are contributing to society… then all is good, right??
buck up moms!! not all kids are college material and we need to celebrate each of our kids strengths. great post!
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YES! Thank you! We definitely feel the same way. I always assumed I would have a college degree. Duh. The only questions were which one and how many. But I ended up being the girl who dropped out of college to focus on being a wife (you know, to do little things like cook dinner, do laundry, and clean the apartment). Because God allowed me to have diseases that cause limitations and require choices and priorities to be made. Life re-arranged? Yeah, big time. And to this day we know it was the right choice. And I truly hope I can help my children discover God’s plan for their lives and be supportive of whatever that may be.
I love that rocket scientist orange! I was really a good student and I assumed that meant that I should keep going to school–it took me a long time to realize that I didn’t really like academia! I did an MFA in Creative Writing, but I also realized I didn’t want to write poems anymore, I wanted to make art, so that’s what I’m doing, but it was hard because my self-perception was “I’m a poet”–and visual art seemed outside of what I could do–but they are both expressions of creativity.
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I love that you had the courage to post this. It is a very good thing not to place expectations like that on your children. I am all for my kids going to college, but my husband never went, and he is content with that at the moment. I went to college, got my degree, and can do nothing with it. So I am a waitress, because I can work days while my kids are in school, and be home in time to get them off the bus most days. It works for me and our family. Do what you want, not what others expect. I be none of my customers expect that I graduated with honers from college, but they would be wrong.
Great site SITStah! I totally agree
Blessings
Randi
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