As my children are a bit older now I have found out something very interesting that is very different from the time when they were babies. As children age, they seem to spend their day at a pace that approximates my pace.Let me give you an example. When children are babies, they spend all day in one spot and all of the care and attention are delivered to them day and night in one slow, drawn out sequence of events. Feeding, burping, changing, tickling, sleeping, laughing and crying occupy the baby's time completely. The parent is used to a different pace of life altogether. An adults life inherently has more stimulus and complexity. Adults need creative input, conversation, future plans, happiness, sorrow, sleep and so on. Adults in America are used to having more of everything and having it faster. Babies grow into children and their world broadens to puzzels, games, books and school. They are catching up but still occupy a relatively small space and are entertained by activities that often seem dull to an adult. After all, how many times can an adult do the same horsie or duckie puzzle without being bored even if we are sharing the wonder and amazement of our children?
We would all agree that life on a remote farm in the midwest has a different rhythm than life in Manhattan. The adult is sort of like the person from New York and when they have a baby it is like one long visit to the farm. Sure there are cows and corn and fences to fix but the adult misses the bright lights, the noise and the excitement of living in the city. Now that my girls are older, we can do more together as a family. Their lives have speeded up and become more complex. This may be why experienced parents with older children will often cringe at the thought of having a newborn child once theirs are older.
Even though raising babies and children is the greatest joy I can imagine, now that my kids are a bit older I am glad to be able to at least visit the city and leave the farm behind.
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