Sunday, January 22, 2012

Farm Kids vs. City Kids

It's no secret I was a city kid. While I like to claim home as a small, rural town, it doesn't even compare to the area I live in now.

At any rate, it is certainly an adventure raising farm kids. While I spent my summers riding bikes all over town, swimming at the pool, and claiming boredom, my kids spend their summers working. Not that we don't make time for fun, but if given the option, Cole will always choose work over play. I don't expect that to last forever.

While other kids will draw pictures of people, houses, cars, flowers, and far off places, my son likes to draw water lines, drainage fields, and his latest obsession: barns with cameras and the wires to connect them to the TV. He was very upset with me when I didn't buy a camera from Menards the other day (why are wireless cameras in the same aisle as phone jacks anyway?).

As a kid I dreamed of becoming a doctor. My kid dreams of being a fireman or policeman. He doesn't dream of being a farmer because he already does that. At this point, I would bet good money that he'll stay being a farmer too.

I wouldn't want to raise them any other way. They may choose someday to leave the farm, but it will never be gone completely. Being farm kids is a big part of who they are and no matter which career path they choose, I doubt agriculture will ever be too far removed from it.

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