The Olden Days

How does one go about teaching a kid all the things she needs to know? How did I learn the things I know? How do I pass those down to her?

I was thinking about this last week while sitting in a meeting where there was much singing. Mostly hymns. Older hymns for the most part. I came in late and did not end up with a song book, which was ok, because I knew the words to most of the songs. Well, at least the first and last verse--if we sang the ones in the middle it was more of a crap shoot.

We didn't sing religious songs at home that much, that I remember. Did I pick them up in church, or at camp, or in choir? I don't know. If you had asked, I never would have answered that I knew the words to those songs, but it seems some things sink in and stick with you.

These are the things I wonder how to teach my daughter. The things that make her a part of our family, of our religion, our culture. The things that she won't know she's learned, or that won't make a difference until she's grown and startled to discover it was inside her all along.