Struggling with growing

I'm discovering that my son has a very strong sense of wrong and right.  Like his father used to, he sees the world as black and white, with very little room for greys.

This has caused us a lot of frustration and tears recently, as my understanding of the realities of life conflict with his sense of how things should be.  Usually, it's my impatience that causes the tears, which, of course, makes me feel like the best mum in the world.  But then we take the time to sort through the miasma of thought and emotion, find a reason to laugh, and all is well again.

Despite all of this, I've also seen something beautiful emerging.  The Little Big Fella is developing such a strong sense of what it is to be a friend, and what you should expect of your friends.

He expects friends to treat you right, no matter who else is around.

He expects friends to want to hang out with you, not just your stuff.

He expects friends to care if you're upset.

He expects friends to balance what they want with what you want.

I can see the hard times of puberty approaching and I know that his expectations will be let down more than once.  But I have hope that these strong (dare I say, moral?) perspectives will help guide him (and maybe his friends) to be wonderful men at the end.

One Day in August

The photography club in the next town organised for people all over our region to take photos of their day today.  They're collating them into a book (I think) to show what life is like here, and as a historical record.  So without further ado, here is some of our One Day in August!