Mai poina ‘ole

As I get older, I realize that there are certain things that need to be pointed out to my children as “historic” and things that as a family, it’s important to experience together. This morning, given the opportunity to sleep, my body woke up at 4:45, antsy and ready to get up. I put on the tv and started watching the inauguration coverage and decided that this would be another moment that my kids need to see so I put some homemade Portuguese sausage in the pan and started waking up the boys. Together we watched the crowd interviews, saw all the former presidents and dignitaries and on our way to school we listened to Obama’s speech live.
We didn’t talk much about the ramifications or the importance of this event, but we shared it and were silent. I think sometimes I don’t need to always teach at teachable moments. I think it’s enough to remember together and they will bring with them whatever the experience wants to teach them without my guiding anything. They show me in other ways and at other times that yes, they’ve been absorbing and they have their own thoughts about it. It’s not necessarily what I would have taken from the experience, but it’s their personal experience too. As a control freak, part of my growing up is letting go of control and having faith that putting opportunities and experiences in front of the kids is enough.