Raising 'Em Country Doesn't Mean Closing 'Em Off

Flip through the photos of my kid, and you can draw only one conclusion. Kid on great-uncle's lap on a tractor. Kid grinning out from under a dirt-smeared face. Kid holding a balloon printed with the black and white markings of a cow.

Yes. She's a country kid.

And hot darn, I'm proud. I'm like a pig in, well, you know. I have successfully gotten her to 6 years old, and she's so used to the smell of cow manure she's more or less immune. And she wouldn't dream of trying to walk anywhere because everyone knows it takes a car to get where you really have to go.

So you'll imagine my amusement at the Internet diatribe directed my way for daring to raise a child "in the middle of nowhere."

Oh my stars, these folks actually think that we lead a dull and boring existence, where the television is our children's only means of exposure to the outside world.

Snort.

They do know we have these new-fangled things with motors and steering wheels that we drive out of west nosepick and into "society," right? Not to mention there's a fair share of the county where the "outside world" looks a heckuva lot like the hills and dales of this here country bumpkin-ville.

It's a benefit that country kids develop as they edge: the ability to look at our childhoods objectively. We know that we weren't raised in a thriving metropolis. But it hardly means we want for adventure.

Besides the jaunts into so-called civilization (because, gee, we like to travel too), there are stars to be watched at night and frogs to be caught in the morning. There are backyards to be explored with faithful pups at our side and groundhogs avoiding our every move while trying to steal the freshly dumped ears of corn off the compost pile.

There are tractors to drive before cars, scooters to be scooted over treacherous terrain (aka long driveways), and that's just the half of it.

The true challenge to raising a country kid isn't trying to fill their boredom. It's trying to fit it all in.

Where are you raising a kiddo? What's the best part of where you are?


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