I’m the kind of person who likes to listen to the lyrics of songs. And I frequently take them too seriously, and nitpick them to death. I mean, things should make sense, shouldn’t they?
One lyric stuck out to me in particular as I was driving out to do some Christmas shopping the other day. We’re all familiar with the song, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas.” In fact, I bet 99% of our readers here on Families.com can sing it from memory.
We start out by talking about how everything looks like Christmas. There are trees, and decorations everywhere, and there’s anticipation for the season. The children are looking forward to their gifts, and they’ve each got something in mind they hope to receive. We then encounter this line:
“And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again.”
So … that’s the meaning of Christmas? Sending the kids back to school?
Where’d the decorations go? What about the holly on our own front door being so pretty? What about the carol that we sing right within our heart? If all of this is just leading up to sending the kids back to school with a sigh of relief, that’s pretty darned depressing.
I don’t know about you, but I think having children around is pretty cool. I like talking to them, spending time with them, hearing what they have to say. Didn’t we all have children in the first place because we like them? Why so eager to kick them out the door?
If I were a kid, I think my feelings would be hurt to think that my parents just want to get the holidays over with so they can send me back to school. I would want to feel like they’d miss me when I go.
As a homeschooling mom, I’m used to having my children around me all the time, so my perspective is a little bit different. For parents who are more accustomed to having their children gone for portions of the day, this song might not seem so odd. But let’s make sure that our children always feel welcome and loved and wanted, whether we see them all day, every day, or in the mornings and after school—children should never feel as though their parents can’t wait to get rid of them, even if it is just a silly song.
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