Late. I know. But I have an excuse. My family and I just got back from taking our son/brother to college. Quite the whirlwind of emotions. In between the emotions there was a truckload of observations I made. I noticed the varying degrees of responsibilities we as parents have taken for our offspring. Easy to see. However, there was something else that hit me in the back of the head. When we are uncomfortable and in new environments, our go to are the comfortable patterns we have set up over time. Funny, the experiences that illuminate the obvious.

Again, no rocket science here. In fact, it’s a pretty simple concept that easily flies under the radar. If young people have set up patterns of video games or sports or alcohol, that’s their go to in times of unfamiliar. We all do it. We gravitate to the familiar to deal with unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Talking and playing sports is mine. For others it may be movies, reading, social, or even isolation. And one is not better than the other.

I guess seeing all the young adults looking for a foothold in a new place made a simple concept more visible to me. Helping our kids create patterns that we consider healthy is so valuable throughout life. But its especially useful in times of new and unfamiliar.

Oh, and one other observation. How does that parable go? Wash a kids clothes and they have clean clothes for a day. Teach them to wash their own clothes and they have clean clothes for life. Patterns.