A Lack of Sound and Thinking

My oldest daughter loves writing papers when listening to music. I prefer to write when I don't have many distractions. Background noise gets me off-track and I lose my train of thought. I've been doing a number of tasks that don't require much thinking lately and have been listening to Christmas music at the same time. In the car, I listen to talk radio. My day is full of more sound than in previous times. One thing occurred to me today, I'm not finding solutions to problems as quickly as I had previously. My creativity is not being used. My brain is becoming lazy.

Homeschooling parents often state that homeschooling allows their children time to be imaginative, time to solve problems, and time to let their mind wander. At my home, the children have time to do those things, but I have slowly filled my time with noise. It started out as a way to tune out the sound of the children squabbling on a bad afternoons. Then, we started listening to the radio in the car to keep the noise level down. But, we don't talk to each other in the car any more. I'm having fewer good conversations with my children. These are not good things.

We live in a time when people are blessed with the ability to enjoy music whenever they want. We can also listen to news and weather forecasts to keep abreast of the current state of affairs. These listening opportunities also keep some people from actively participating in living. Instead of listening to Christmas music, I should be playing Christmas music on the piano. The children and I haven't gotten together to play musical instruments together in several months. Those are cherished times and should not be missed.

I will still listen to Christmas music and turn on the radio in the car. In the future though, it won't be from habit. There are so many other things I want to do with my time and thoughts.