Joining In

One thing we try to pass along to our kids is to be the kind of people who get involved, who fire up, who join in the fun -- within reason, of course.

On dress-up days at school, wear something funny. Join teams. Raise your hand when your teacher asks for volunteers.

For the most part, they get it. Mack lacks confidence sometimes, though, and hesitates, but he seems to be figuring out the value in contributing, not just observing.

Catie does fine. She's spoken in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Oratorical twice, one of a very few kindergarteners and first graders to do so. And she always dresses up.

Declan...shows signs of being very bashful, of hesitating to dive in -- but when you're three years old, who knows?

This all came up the other evening, after watching this (which Karen and I really enjoyed). We asked the kids, "So -- would you start dancing too? Would you join in, or just watch?"

They told us they'd start dancing. Catie would. Mack will. Declan? Who knows.