Life Lessons

My kids spent last week at their grandparent’s cottage.

What do kids do when their parents aren’t around?

Do they stay up late and lie about their regular bed times? Do they justify sugar as brain food? Do they watch every Entourage episode ever produced? (Apparently my 11&13 year old did just that…requiring some parental commentary that Entourage isn’t “real life”, to our young boys dreaming of celebrity life in Hollywood!)

Do they and their temporary guardians subscribe to that old joke? (Q. Why do kids and grandparents get along so well? A. They have a common enemy!)

Hopefully they spend their days swimming, fishing, and skipping stones, followed by an evening of campfires, singing, and making smores, in my Rockwellian spin anyway.

My guys did almost all of that and more. The more consisted of staying up and watching the news with their grandmother. Not just watching, but discussing current events, and seeing the world’s issues through the wisdom of her eyes. They went fishing, not just with their beloved grandfather, but together, forging a brotherly bond over the one that got away. For those pisces who didn’t slip their grasp, they were subject to a grilling flavoured by a secret recipe from my older son’s summer camp. When they weren’t on the water, they helped spread a half-ton of gravel on the lake road, meeting my parent’s neighbours who had joined in for a Saturday cottage association work party. They also spent magical hours in Papa’s workshop handcrafting a beautiful end table for our patio.

I am grateful, fortunate, and potentially even underestimating the power of these life lessons my children are receiving. The most powerful form of learning is not from what you are told, but what you are shown. Great teachers, leaders, mentors demonstrate their wisdom through actions.

The lesson for all of us is to seek out the pairing of mentors with youngsters in our workplace, our teams, our associations, our families, and even within our circle of friends.