Why is an advertisement for Eurostar, the train that runs between London and Paris, posted with a blog for Conner Prairie? Because it includes a picture of my 16-year old son Paul. A photographer for Eurostar’s advertising company snapped the picture last summer in Paris when Paul was traveling with his friend Eli Ramthun and his parents. He’s in the green shirt, by the way --- on the left. His picture is on Eurostar’s website (shown here) and plastered on buses and subways (or tubes as they call them) throughout London.
For my husband and me, the picture seems yet another harbinger of Paul’s growing independence. As his picture trundles through foreign territory, so will he soon move on to college and his own life.
We have less than two years before Paul graduates and like his two brothers before him, leaves home. My husband and I will be rattling around in a quiet, empty house. No longer will rock music blare from Paul’s end of the hall; no longer will groceries mysteriously disappear when his friends are around.
Although I will miss him, I take satisfaction in knowing that he will follow a path of inquiry and lifelong learning that we set him on when he was little. We nurtured his curiosity about the world and his passion for knowledge by introducing him to new experiences and encouraging his own interests. In Pittsburgh, where we lived until Paul was six, we often visited the natural history museum, the science center, the art museum and the zoo. Those were places, like Conner Prairie, where a child could make his or her own discoveries, learn about the world and begin the important work of becoming an inquisitive adult.
Paul is ready to find his own way. Soon he will catch up with his picture, which has already taken on a life of its own.
A central part of our mission at Conner Prairie is to be a place of discovery where children can follow their own interests as part of the important work of growing up.
What have your children discovered here?