We have just finished a wonderful tour that included a speech Warsaw, Poland which was so fun and fascinating! This was a group of committed, wealthy parents who are worried about not entitling their kids.
The discussion became fascinating when we told them how important it was to give kids ownership of their thing, their values and choices. One dad raised his hand and said, “There’s not need to tell us about the importance of ownership. We were raised under a communist regime. Suddenly the wheels turned in our heads and we realized how very different their childhoods had been but also how quickly entitlement can become an issues when free will is introduced and money becomes so much easier to come by.
Next we were whisked off to Germany where we landed in Munich, were shepherded to a subway, then a train to Nuremberg, than a car to cute little chapel in a nearby town and made it by the skin of our teeth as we changed clothes in the rest room and swallowed a nice meal whole in the kitchen before racing to the chapel for a speech at 7 p.m. Actually we were five minutes late but everyone was kind and understanding.
Many of the people in this audience were military families who were stationed there. We actually had the pleasure of meeting the daughter and family of one of missionaries in England all those years ago with her darling family, including a handsome husband who would be shipping out the following week to Afghanistan as a helicopter pilot. It was stunning to see so many wives sitting there without their husbands who had been deployed for a year at a time to serve us all. A question and answer period after our remarks was very revealing. There are so many trials in the world and so many people trying so hard to be better and do better.
After a whirlwind tour of the charming city of Nurenberg (possibly one of the most delightful walled cities in Europe) by the wonderful Archibalds who were senior missionaries serving the youth in the area, we were whisked off to the airport where we flew to Berlin and then to London, where our daughter Saydi resides (as of January) with her terrific husband and four darling children. She is home-schooling with most unique opportunities to teach with awesome field trips at her disposal.
For more information about this advenuture and a little photographic tour of their not-so-much-at- home school in the “Green and Pleasant Land” go to this post on our Deseret News blog by clicking here.
If you’re a glutton for punshment and want to see a little more our fun trip check out the last few blog posts on our family blog at eyrealm.blogspot.com.