Interesting

Let me first start by saying, I need to rename my blog. I need to name it, "I'm going to offend everyone in the world at some point or another, so you might as well not read"
I don't mean to offend anyone by this post. I'm just simply stating that it is very different from what we do. Does that make it bad, not necessarily. The important thing is that we all do what works for us. This is just simply an observation I've made.
Last night, with Matt's ipod money, he decided to take us out to dinner and a movie and then take some of his spending money for February to make up the difference for the ipod.
So, we went to an all you can eat pizza place. We didn't know it was all you can eat at the time, we just knew they have good pizza. It was a steal, let me tell ya. $3.99 per person, and Zach was free. Not bad.
Anyway, I'm getting off topic here.
While we were there, a family with 3 girls and a baby boy came in and sat behind us. Mom was slinging baby when they came in. We started talking a bit and I asked if they homeschooled. Yes, they did.
Why would I even ask this? Well, because I've noticed something over the years. It seems that those of us with "large" families tend to homeschool. Why? Because we enjoy our kids, and their company. It seems like the families with one or two kids say all summer, "can't wait for school to start, these kids are making me bonkers"
I always have loads of people say, "oh I bet you can't wait till they're all in school". Nothing could be farther from true. I dread the day they are all in school, if that day ever comes.
What I don't understand is why people even have kids if they don't really enjoy being with them. Is it because that is what we do? As Americans we have 2.5 children. It's expected of us, to keep the family name going.
I'm not saying this applies to everyone who puts their kids in school, because it certainly doesn't. It's just something I've noticed over the years. Because you would think it would be the opposite. The families with lots of kids would be the ones that can't wait for school to start to get the kids out of their hair. But it doesn't seem to be that way.
We've noticed the lack of family, oh...not values...what is the word I'm looking for?
OK, since we've been here, we have found out that we are the only family who actually sit down and eat dinner together. The kids have one little friend who comes over and eats with us, and it breaks my heart because she never gets that at home. Her mom has told me that she(daughter) has her own life and they rarely talk, if at all. The girl is 7. Her dad just came home from Iraq. We have yet to see mom and dad actually together since he got home, and daughter and son are never inside with dad. In fact, daughter came knocking this morning at 9 to play. The kids were still in jammies, and we were still in bed. Matt said to me,"how about spending some time with your dad?" Which is exactly true. He's been gone for 4 months, and yet there is no time spent together. Things go on as normal. It is truly odd to me.
So what's happening to today's family? Why don't they enjoy each other's company? Is it because it is expected to send the kiddies to school, where they are for 7 hours a day, then put them in sports to eat up more time. By the time there is actually time to spend together, we don't know what to do with each other, and it breaks into too much of my time? I don't know.
It's just all really really strange to me.....
Again, this is not meant to offend, just an observation. There are definitely exceptions and people whose kids are in school and parents work are still perfectly capable of having a good family. Matt and I had to get our values from somewhere and we were both in school with working parents. And we both had dinner with our families every night. It can be done. I just see it getting less and less in this world..