Memories

I viewed a picture on facebook today, it's nothing more than a large red bluff with a dry riverbed lying in the foreground. It is however a trigger for the memories of things that live so vividly behind me, and yet, they are not behind. Sometimes a memory is so strong that it is ever present in one's mind. I can see that memory in such a way as to believe I am still living it. It is that memories have a way of doing that to each of us in some manner. It's not just about good memories,bad memories can also exist in the same manner. It is a must for some to live through those bad memories so that they might conquer them, move them out of the way and move on with life. There are times that good memories will destroy the willingness to move on with life in that we wish so much to live those memories and dwell on the past that we truely fail to see any future. It is necesary to defeat the control that a memory has on a person,they should be controled by us. There seems to be a fine line between help and hinderence in a memory in that a bad memory may have to be relived and that a good memory has the possibility to destroy future. Never the less it is so important to build memories in our lives and the children that participate in our lives. It is with greater importantance they be good memories, ones that can be looked back on with happiness and enjoyment. In childcare, I have so often seen children who have no good memories and bad memories have so controled their lives that they can find no hope. I am without the education that enables me to give any stats, but I know that it takes many good memories to offset those memories that are bad. It is a tremendous undertaking to begin that job in life, although necessary in helping those who you oversee to deal with that which is bad and replace that with good. It is often a simple thing that ocures and that comes from the heart that builds the greatest memory in our life or in a childs life. However, it comes with a great amount of work and sacrifice of time. We have found in the past years that there are unusual things that spur good memories. I have a child, now two of them who love cranbery sauce. We began to look for a way to exhibit that one food item and found a very plain crystal dish. Those two children know that dish is about cranberry sause and a good time, meaning that from that dish they can get as much cranberry sauce as they wish. It is not necessary for me to understand why this builds such a great memory, just that it does. I have had evening campfires with the boys, I have built fence and dug post holes with groups of children. When they talk of these things there are big smiles that come upon their faces, it is good to once again remember those times of enjoyment. I have even had those who have earned some of those post holes because of bad behavior. It is however that they remember me being there helping them when they became tired. I never finish the job they had set before them, just helped accomplish reaching the goal in front of them. I was suprised that they had not remembered the discipline but the time I spent with them. I am a little older now and must find new ways to accomplish some of the things. I have a 6 year old that has been with me for a couple of years, he wants to be a cowboy. I found him a hat and so it has begun, he has ask if I'll teach him how to rope. I picked up a dummy steer head at Gebos the other dayhere in about a week I'll get him down to the barn and mount that head on a bale of hay and see where it takes us. To use a line, the steer head was twenty dollars, the time is unpayable, but the memory will be priceless. As you read this thought,think about the memory you can build in a child's life this coming year. It is usually not about the money you spend but the time you spend. It is simple, it is necessary, it just takes your time and effort. The dividens are great, build a memory.