It seemed somewhat of a marathon for me today with necessary chores earlier this morning and then from late morning until around 5:00 p.m., I found myself showing multiple homes. When I show a number of homes in one outing, I become more aware of the stark differences between those homes. Some were quirkily staged while others appeared as if the occupants weren’t even aware of the appointment due to their untidy kitchens and bathrooms. Yes, there are extremes we all encounter such as homes that are so picture perfect that one feels as though he’s intruding. One of my relatives has a home what I would consider a museum or perhaps even a shrine. There is absolutely nothing out of place including newspapers and magazines. I mockingly refer to their home as the shrine unto themselves. The do-it-yourself renovations I’ve seen lately have been quite the eye-opener for me. I look at some of the mitering of corners on trim work and wonder if the person was using a steak knife and an honest guess as to what degree angle was to be cut. The sad thing is they don’t even care about the look of the finished product and simply call it good to go. I wouldn’t want to have too much light in some of those rooms for fear of being visually attacked by all the odd and misfit corners glaring at me.
I was a bit saddened when showing a home where the residents decided to stay while the showing took place and found all three of their children playing video games on their computers while the parents were busy watching television. It was a nice day out today and to see those children not outdoors playing, boggled my mind. If this is the direction the rearing of children is going, I fear there will be far more health problems with our youth simply due to their not being active enough in their formative years. I haven’t spoke for some time about what my take is on why parents don’t encourage their children to be outside as much as in past generations. I believe we are living in a society that’s filled with information over-loads. We read on the internet as well as see on television the stories about abductions, murders, sex offenders, and all the other scary things that are happening to children. This concerns parents to the point of being overly-fretful about their children being outdoors. This excess fretting causes heightened yet un-spoken anxiety levels in both parents and children. Terrible things have happened to children in the past and will continue in the future. As long we educate our children as to what not to expose themselves to, as well as instructing them what the tell-tale signs of something possibly being very wrong, and exiting the situation as quickly as possible, then at least they have the tools to work with in keeping out of harms way. As I’ve said before, a child’s mind is like a sponge. It takes in every word, movement, tone, and unspoken signs of something being wrong within their family circles. Freely talking about concerns helps to lessen the levels of anxiety. It’s as though the fact of talking about problems puts those concerns back into perspective. Drama-free discourse within a household helps keep individuality alive and pressure points at a minimum. If it weren’t so late today, I would’ve taken a stroll in East Park because the light fog, I found it hauntingly beautiful.
