on Being House Guests

You might wonder how many times we are invited to be house guests of someone else with six kids......but

We are invited a lot more than you would expect!

We are a clan, we are a group charged with an enormous amount of energy,we are a family !

I was so proud of my children this weekend, as they test out their own identities in an envirment that is safe, all summer long,

Here when they are out of their envirnment, guests in someone elses house,
they are who they are! Children I am proud of !

I make sure to ask my hosts

"What are the rules in your house, on your property for us"
I teach my children that its important to find out what someone elses
rules are and what would make them comfortable while we stay here !

We learn that one rule is to close all the gates to the street and to the pool.
I watch as my children roam freely around the perfectly manicured hedges, reaching so high, they dwarf even the ten year old. I watch them enter and exit the pool...and look behind that the gate is latched!

I never tell them how I expect them to behave, but I ask some important questions


" What is your rule on us going into your refrigerator"
" What is your rule on shoes in and out of the house"



We walk around the house and we come to a garden. New York City Children do not often see tomatoes growing , ready to pick.

I pull one off the vine and I sing

"Mortals join the mighty chorus which the morning stars began
Love divine is reigning over us
leading us with mercys hand

Ever singing, march we onward
Victors in the midst of strife
Joyful music leads us sunward
In the triumph song of life"

and we eat !