Thank You for Homework · 30 November 2007
Grace at our house is a wonderful experience and has been for some time. Many of my fondest memories of grace happened when the boys were younger. When he was three, Thing 3 always wanted to say grace or at least add to it. He said thank you for playing trains and playing computers. And for church school on the days he had been at church. Sometimes he even remembered to say thanks for the food. Amen. Now more than ever, it is wonderful to hear such thankful sentiments from all of our kids when they say grace.
When he was twelve, Thing 1 was a bit more pragmatic and focused on the now in his grace. Thank you for the food. Thank you for the Mariners (during baseball season). Thank you for the fun we had. Thank you for playing trains and playing computers. (Because Thing 3 would add them anyway.) Even now, he is thoughtful and thanks God for some of the simpler things in life.
At five, Thing 2 was the most unpredictable at grace. Sometimes it was just thank you for the food amen. Other times it was a list of everything within sight. His voice would change direction as his head swiveled to scan the room for things he was thankful for. Of course, he was thankful for playing trains and playing computer but he was and still is also thankful for unlikely things. Like homework.
The first time that Thing 2 said thank you for homework, Thing 1 and I had to giggle just a bit. Thing 2 is in kindergarten, Thing 1 is in middle school, and I teach high school so we all had different perspectives on homework. I still get the privilege of inflicting homework on my students (even if it is rather minimal). Thing 1 would get to do some interesting assignments along with some drudgery. Thing 2 gets to learn. In kindergarten, Thing 2’s assignments were writing the capital letters of the alphabet or writing the numbers from 15 to 30. These were mildly challenging for him at that age. Even now, school is still new and exciting. And he gets to do homework like his big brother.
It was really cute the night that Thing 2 thanked God for homework but I guess it should not have been so odd. After all, Thing 3 is thankful for trains and other toys he plays and Thing 1 is thankful for computers as tools and toys, why shouldn’t Thing 2 be thankful for learning and homework? I love to hear the kids say grace. Especially, since they see blessings in just about everything. In food, family, trains, computers, school. And even homework.
© 2007 Michael T. Miyoshi
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