Then we entered the stadium proper, and the amazement in his eyes made me consider just how much larger this place was than any other he’d seen. Seats swept in both directions so far they grayed with haze. In the tens of thousands, people shifted, churned, the moving sea of a landscape.
“All my life you knew this was happening,” his expression accused, his gaze struggling to take it all in, “and you never showed me?”
Two years one month old had seemed a strapping age for our son’s first baseball game — to us. To him it felt like betrayal. This is the boy who chokes on the bacon he shovels too quickly into his mouth. How dare we hold anything back?
I wonder what other experiences we’ve sheltered him from inadvertently. We try: no TV, regular excursions, playdates with other kids. But what have we missed that we don’t even realize? Parents almost need a checklist of experiences their children should be exposed to within the first two or three years.
Certainly, as a first-time parent of a boy only two years old, I’m no authority. But below is a first stab at creating an experience checklist.
An Experience Checklist
Within realistic constraints of time, cost, geography and opportunity, parents should expose their children to all of the following:
People
extended family
other children
other parents
babysitters
Academics
books
music, instruments
coloring, painting
puzzles
internet
Institutions
Daddy’s work
Mommy’s work
church
library
airport
mall
stuffmart
flea market
farm
museum, aquarium, science center
restaurant
bank
military (air show, naval ships)
school
sports stadium
movie theater/IMAX
community fair
post office
Activities
pool, water park
concert
fireworks
parade
housework
flying
roadtrip
Nature
beach, ocean
mountain
desert
forest
cave
river
Culture
another national region
another language
another country (extra credit!)
* * * * *
We’ve given our son some of these experiences so far, but not all. If you can suggest additions, please leave a comment so I can include them above.
Of course life’s not a list of “been there, done thats” to be checked off. But for the few years our son will be with us, we are his custodians, custodians of his opportunities. Cruise directors, really. The question is what kind of cruise we’re conducting, what kind of world we’re showing him.
It’s impossible to expose him to everything. I’d just hate, through negligence or laziness, to hold anything back.
