I have been thinking a lot and forming ideas around this concept of “A crockpot childhood.” To be honest I have been telling myself – you know, the whole “putting things out in the universe” that this will be the title of my first published book. I do not know when, I do not know how but I have a gut feeling that this will be it – Crockpot childhood : Savoring the sweet & the slow of the early years. When I have a question, I like so many million other people seek help from Dr. Google. My first word search on google when I begun conceptualizing this were the words – What is a crockpot childhood? The results on page one were juicy recipes from Martha Stewart, 14 kid friendly crockpot meals, crockpot recipes from childhood etc etc – Not really what I was going or looking for. So I have been formulating this concept, and actually there are moments (like today) while sitting cross-legged on the floor painting with my little 3 year old or building legos with my 5 year old son I go like, yes!! this is it, the slow and juicy crockpot childhood that a Google database does not have answers for.
There is something about “fall off the bone” pork ribs that have been sitting in a crockpot all day. They are juicy, they are flavorful and just so organic. They are effortlessly delicious. They have not been rushed – its like the heat slowly entices the flavors out of the meat as it tenderizes the tendons. Meanwhile the onions, the celery, the garlic, the basil and BBQ sauce are all doing a happy dance to merge together with the natural meat flavor to produce the tenderest, most juicy flavors.
Shouldn’t this be what childhood should look , taste and feel like? slow, tender, savory, just fall of the bone delicious? Filled with rich experiences, rich memories, wonder and exploration? How do we as parents foster this type of childhood? How do we opt to pump the breaks on sending our little ones down the 5lane highways that define modern day childhood? The one word that comes to my head when I think of a crockpot childhood is TIME.
TIME:
Have you ever wondered what time means to little ones? It means nothing. All they know is the present moment, the here and now. That is why it is almost impossible to tell a preschooler or toddler – “We will continue building this fort tomorrow okay honey?” without some pushback. Because tomorrow is eternity. Tomorrow never comes. Tomorrow is not promised. Little ones have a way of doing and feeling every single thing in their present moment. They are not rushed or hurried. Our busy days and multiple schedules have us shuffling them from one car / drive through to the next activity. Which are good things but I sometimes wonder do they sometimes take away from the things that will truly matter so many years later. There is a way time seems to rush ahead but at the same time it feels so slow in the early years. The literal hour by hour moments with preschoolers may seem to drag on for eternity – between dealing with spilled milk or the never ending sibling bickering; the hours in a day could at times leave one gasping for air. However the whole “blink you miss it” holds true. Just one moment they are handed over to you in the delivery room, the next you have taken the training wheels off their bikes and before you know it they are fixing their own sandwiches. I want to go with the slowness of time in a crockpot childhood. I want to savor every moment – even the hard ones that have me talking through gritted teeth. I want to sit and gaze at the clouds moving across the sky from point A to B with our little ones as we guess what shape the clouds are making. Time is fleeting, we have few summers to soak up the sun with them before they want to spend time with their friends at the mall or pick up shifts at their first summer job. A time will come when they do not need us to tie their shoelace, or pour them milk. But good Lord may that time find me fully spent, having fully explored every nook and cranny of their beautiful lives with them. May my knees be bruised from getting down on them to play and my arms weary from pushing on the slide, “one more time.” Because tomorrow is not promised. Now is all we have.
#earlyyears#childhood#JanetLansbury#crockpotchildhood#savorthesweet#
“What time can be the more beautiful than the one in which the finest virtues, innocent cheerfulness and indefinable longing for love constitute the sole motives of your life?” – Leo Tolstoy on childhood