― Rudyard Kipling
Mothers who manage any kind of semi-sane existence know that
it does indeed take a village to raise our children. We rely on the members of our village for support,
advice, help with shuttling children back and forth, school updates ...
A dear friend and I have developed our own mutual
assistance society. We are blessed that
our children share schools and more than one after-school activity, so we touch
base daily. Depending on who arrives at
one of the school dismissal lines first, we make arrangements about where to
exchange children. We even have two
designated places close to the schools for this purpose. Our children seem to jump in and out of our
cars with equal ease. Since our children
began attending the same schools, my friend has insisted, "We have to help
each other or we'll go crazy."
This week, my friend took the it-takes-a-village thing to
a new level. One of my children had been
invited to audition for a community arts program, but she was refusing to do
it. I am not entirely sure of the
reasons, but it might have included her beginning a new school and wanting to
focus on doing well there. Her father
and I tried to persuade her, but she would not budge.
Enter my friend -- already an important member of my
village. Yesterday, as we were leaving an
after-school activity, I overheard my friend talking to my daughter, very casually asking
about the program and why she did not want to audition. My friend told my daughter that she knew how well she
would do and that she was sure that my daughter would enjoy it. Well, you can guess how this story goes -- my
daughter auditioned this morning, and it looks as though things went well.
Today, as my friend and I celebrated surviving the first
week of school, I thanked her for her very thoughtful kindness. She was able to accomplish something that
neither my husband nor I had managed to do.
And I believe that my daughter will benefit greatly from my friend's
generosity.
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