It’s half term. We are surrounded by our children. Actually, my family are all on holiday while I’m at work and I am in no way grumpy or ungracious about that. Obviously. But it’s had me thinking rather wistfully about the summer, when we went all together to Brighton for a day of beach, fish, chips, Pavilion and the Pier.
In Brighton, the Pier is the best bit. And the worst. It’s the rides. I have a love/hate relationship with fairground rides. I love the idea of being scared to death, but I hate actually being scared to death. Actually, I just hate them.
The fact is, I’m frightened and I was perfectly happy just to watch my stepson Sam queuing for the scariest ride, the one where you plunge from a vast height to certain doom again and again until you’re begging for mercy.
I had absolutely no intention of joining him – until the patronising, parental voice came into play. ‘Go on’, it said, ‘You know what’s best. You can’t leave the poor lad to do this by himself. He needs some support’. And before I knew it I was strapped in, perched a billion feet above the sea, absolutely terrified.
‘Don’t worry, Sam’, I said, reassuringly, ‘you’ll be fine’.
And then, as we plummeted from the heavens, I shut my eyes tight and swore at the top of my lungs as if every word would be my last. Sam, on the other hand, turned to me grinning and said, reassuringly, ‘that was great. You ok?’
In the Bible, St Paul gave advice to a young friend of his called Timothy, who was the leader of a church where everyone thought they knew best, and he told him, ‘Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young’. Paul knew Timothy had the qualities of a leader in spite of his age; and that day in Brighton I suddenly realized that Sam had something to teach me – about bravery and self-control if nothing else.
I reckon, as adults, it’s worth being reminded, once in a while, that we don’t always know what’s best. And, as I watch the children grow, it’s great to see, just once in a while, that they do. I may be slow to have picked that up, but I’m learning. And they’re good teachers.