Thursday, May 22, 2008

exaggerated topiary sculpture

In writing about shaping our children much like a gardener designing a topiary sculpture, I was reminded of a blog article sent to me via email. I do not have the original blogger name or url to give proper credit to. I would like to take a moment to think about the other side of shaping our children into our desired mold/shape/goal for them.

In her article, the above stated blogger reminds us parents that we can sometimes carry this a bit too far. We must remember that yes, we are the parents, but it eventually comes down to the child deciding for him/herself what s/he will do and be. We can spend too much time shaping our children into what we want them to be, what we think they “should” be. We as parents must be careful not to get so caught up in our own vision for our children that we lose sight of their vision for themself. A plant will only be beautiful if it blooms and grows. We must caution ourselves against the risk of losing our children to the dream we have for them to become.

Posted by sowingseeds at 04:34:26 | Permalink | No Comments »

Monday, April 28, 2008

Topiary

TOPIARY — The art of clipping and training woody plants to form geometric shapes or intricate patterns. Box and Myrtle are suitable types.

As we strolled through Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival last week, I noticed many of the topiaries around the park. They were beautifully designed and sculpted. I have seen topiaries before, but never thought of them in the sense of children.

Raising kids can be quite a bit like designing a topiary. You have this vision of a beautifully sculpted finished project. You spend time creating and shaping this work, hoping that the result will be what you see in your mind’s eye.
I am a lot like this with my children. I have certain ideals in my own mind of what their finished product could, even should, look like. I believe it is right and good for a parent to shape and mold his/her children into the most beautiful work of art imagined. I know that it must take a lot of time, patience, skill and tender care to mold the topiary into the desired shape. The same can be said of our children. If we invest in the time, patience and tender care, we too can behold a beautifully sculpted being when our work is done.

Posted by sowingseeds at 04:36:09 | Permalink | Comments (2)