No sheltered kids here

http://familiesontheroad.com/carnival.html


One of the concerns we had when going into full time RVing was the socialization process of our children. I am writing this to encourage those who asked this very question that I confidently say you can rest assured that this is not going to be an issue. Every park that we have driven into has some kid of some sort already present when we arrive. Some are weekenders and some are long-term residents. It’s like they have a super-human tuning radar. Seriously, it doesn’t matter where in the park we are, they find us. I am sure the rack on the back of the set-up sporting kids bikes is a bit of a give-away. However, I never see these kids until they have infiltrated our space and it doesn’t take long for them to do so. It reminds me of our recent rodent infestation. My children are not without new friends and our RV slip is crawling with kids.

One of our more recent friends is a 7 year old boy we are going to call “Dirk”. This kid is fearless, social, creative and has an unbridled confidence that is unusual and actually a bit refreshing but mostly irritating. The words that come out of Dirk’s mouth have a way of cracking us up so much that we have decided to keep a log of “Dirk-isms”. When we first met Dirk we asked him how long he and his family had been staying in the RV park thinking the answer would be a week or two, “I’m not really sure, like 1360 days or something”. We soon learned that much of what comes out of Dirks mouth we cannot take seriously. We also learned that he probably has been here “like 1360 days or something”. His parents are battling the same effects of the unemployment rate as many are.

Dirk had walked over with a skateboard under his arm, dropped it in the grass and didn’t give it another thought the entire time he had been at our place. It was evening and the end of day chores needed done, including taking out the trash. The garbage receptacle for the park is across the other side of where we are. Although it is probably only a two minute walk, Jeramie and I have decided it is an ordeal to take the trash out. We were in the middle of negotiating whose turn it was when Dirk enthusiastically piped up and said “I have transportation. I can take it for you!” referring to his skateboard. “You can ride that? How come you didn’t ride it over, how come you carried it?” I asked with a little more annoyance in my voice then I should have had. I did say his confidence was unbridled, right? “Oh yeah, I ride it. I just don’t want to wear the wheels off” was his nonchalant response and he turned around to resume playing. He never did take out my trash.

Although Dirk has social-confidence I believe Dirk has self-confidence issues. He is always trying to “one-up” the next kid. We learned from Dirk that apparently you can only ride horses if you have been to Texas. “I have been, like, so many places. I’ve been to Texas, I have even rode a horse before.” This time I promise I was genuinely engaged, “Oh yeah? That’s fun, we’ve ridden horses before too.” He quickly bounced back almost cutting me off with “Why? Have you guys been to Texas before or something?” He left me no time to complete the conversation and hurriedly moved onto something else he had to say.

Lexi noticed a healing scar on his knee. She asked where that came from and Dirk was more than happy to jump into how it occurred. He and his dad got into a fight “with a bunch of big guys”. His dad took the adults and he took the kids. “There were, like, five, I mean, like, four big kids and I used my Kung Fu skills to stab one of them and then there was, like, only three left.” The end, no more to the story. Andon and I exchanged looks. His said “don’t worry mom, I know this kid is full of it” and mine said “glad you know that, as long as you do then you can still hang out with him, but only at our RV.” Andon smiled at me in a confirming way that brought me confidence in his discernment and reassurance that he isn’t gullible. The coolest part was being able to talk with my kid without using words.

Dirks social-confidence can be suffocating and I have been praying that God would give me the ability to not only tolerate this kid but show him some love. The kids have made other friends in the park one of whom apparently is not allowed to play with Dirk anymore. She is a nine year old girl who we will call “Missy” and probably responds to Dirk as a nine year old girl will, emotionally. She says her dad won’t allow her to play with him anymore because she always comes home crying because Dirk is mean to her. My kids and I got caught in the cross fire of these two. This was my opportunity to “love on” this kid. We talked about being sorry, asking for forgiveness and trying our best to change. “I am trying to listen to the angel on this shoulder” he pointed to the top of his right shoulder “but the devil over here keeps talking to me” he pointed to the top of the left shoulder. This was Dirks description, not mine. I never mentioned angels and devils. They decided to see if Missy’s dad would let all of the kids play together if Dirk would go over and personally apologize. Unfortunately he was dismissed by Missy’s dad, so I am not quite sure what really has went down between them. I do know that my kids are officially in the middle of a custody battle between Dirk and Missy. Dirk gets them in the morning and Missy gets them in the afternoon.

My kids are not lacking the socialization opportunities many perceive they would miss out on by not being in a stationary lifestyle or school system. In fact, quite the opposite has occurred. This way is just different. This way I get to be directly involved with who and where. I get to teach them how to handle themselves. I get to see them handle themselves. My focus now is managing the socializing. Some days it feels like there may be over-socialization. It doesn’t get better than that.