Oh to be young again

My daughter has a longtime friend over swimming today. To my 11 year old life is just one play date after another. Summer is all fun and no school. I have a very good memory and i recall those days too. So anxious to grow up. Not knowing that childhood is the few years that real fun and idleness is allowed and accepted without question. I tell my daughter all the time that it has only been a very short time in American history that even kids were allowed to not contribute to the family in some way be it working on the family farm feeding animals or  working as a servant or in a factory to earn money. They say that it was not until Queen Victoria that this idea of just letting kids be kids came into vogue. Prior to that kids were expected to do their part and being too small was no excuse.  So when we think that it has just been 100 years in the history of our planet that kids in America get to swim and play all summer long it was not that long ago that kids worked 16 hour days in factories and had no protection under the law. I am glad my daughter has a childhood. I glad I had one too. But i know many kids across this nation are not swimming and are not playing with friends this very day. They are sitting bored and hungry in a unairconditioned room. No cable, no food. maybe their job is to watch their brothers and sisters if Mom is lucky enough to have a job. I feel blessed. I remind my daughter she needs to feel blessed too. I don't want my child to be ungrateful, unconcerned or oblivious to how lucky we are. I believe compassion is nurtured and empathy learned. It is my job to not allow arrogance or lack of compassion to take over as the teen years loom. Too many snotty little teens who worry more about designer jeans than the things that really matter. My daughter is a compassionate girl. A very loving girl who is very appreciative for the most part but she has her moments too. I am quick to remind her how lucky we are, how we can always do more for others and why it important not to get too full of ourselves. I think this is the right thing to do. We will have issues and conflicts no matter what, but at least she knows in the end her parents are people of conviction. People of purpose and people who always try to think of others. That's our job.