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What Happened To The Joy Of Winter?
Winter's coming, again. When you were young, as young as your own child is today, winter was a time of year you looked forward to. Besides the wonder of a world turned white by the snow, winter meant Christmas, and that meant that Santa Claus was on his way, with a sleigh full of goodies, just for you.
Winter’s coming, again. When you were young, as young as your own child is today, winter was a time of year you looked forward to. Besides the wonder of a world turned white by the snow, winter meant Christmas, and that meant that Santa Claus was on his way, with a sleigh full of goodies, just for you.
That first snow also brought the reality of games and activities you could never enjoy in the summer. You could take your sled to the highest hill around, a hill that was ignored by kids until it was covered with the wet, white stuff. When it snowed, that hill was the greatest place in the world, big enough to hold all the kids in the neighborhood, providing the perfect setting for the perfect winter afternoon.
When you were a kid, a day of snow meant snowballs, snowmen, snow-forts, and snow-boots. It could also mean a day off from school. It was pure fun.
Nowadays, when you hear the weatherman calling for snow, you wait just as anxiously, but not with the same sense of joy and wonder. As an adult, the promise of a snowy day means something totally different to you, than it does to your kids. Gone is that sense of wonder and the joy of exploring the world outside in a whole new way.
Snow-covered highways can be dangerous, and, even though schools are closed, your company expects you at your place of work on time, as usual. That can mean a scary round-trip journey, and you won’t even notice the beauty of the winter landscape.
Snow can be hazardous in other ways, as well. It can blow and drift, causing great piles to collect in spaces and areas that need to be kept clear. That can mean shovelling early and often. Trees can bend under the weight of fresh snow, causing collapses that interfere with power supplies and with roadways. You worry that your kitchen might not be stocked well enough to sustain lengthy isolation, if you and your family are stuck inside. And so on…
In short, there are myriad problems which you imagine, as an adult, facing a blast of winter. But your kids don’t see the potential pitfalls, do they? They’re only able to imagine the fun that winter’s worst weather will bring.
You watch your children as they watch the snow fall, and you can barely remember those feelings of joyful anticipation. You miss those days, and wish you didn’t know all of the dangers of winter.
Maybe this year, it’s time to try seeing winter through your child’s eyes. Maybe it’s time to go out and play in the snow, again. Winter will come, no matter how much you fret. How you handle its inevitable impact can be the difference between a joyful and a stressful holiday season.