Patience – A Characteristic Learned Early in Farm Life

We were yet again at a local farm store when we ran into someone we knew. My husband and this person started talking about farming, the weather and the upcoming harvest. This 20-minute conversation happened while my son and I had to just wait there – patiently. And as I’m standing there, I realize how early in life we as farm kids have to learn patience.

You see farming is a relationship business and its own little community. It’s about those conversations in the local farm store or at the church picnic where farmers could talk all day and night about the farm. This I do believe is what makes farming so special, but we all know these conversations are never very short and as a farmer’s daughter myself I have no realized that during these chats I had to learn to just be patient. I had to learn to stand there or entertain myself until my dad was done talking, just as my kids now have to do with my husband and I. It also taught me how to make small talk with just about anyone, especially now when the boys get to talking farming, us girls usually chit chat about this and that.

So are these really bad skills that I and my kids have had to learn early on? Nope. Honestly, not at all. I’d say these skills are truly ones that are lacking in today’s society. We are a “I want it now” instant gratification sort of society. Thus, having learned patience as a young girl and now teaching my kids the same skill is a huge blessing.

Even the art of conversation is a bit lost today. On the radio the other day I heard a story where a teacher told their students to have conversations with each other, so they all got out their phones to start texting each other in class. The teacher then said no cell phones or computers forcing the class to actually talk to each other – about anything. It was a huge shock to them to have an in-person conversation. With all the technology today, one-on-one conversations are a bit more of something out of a history book.

Patience, learning the art of small talk and one-on-one conversations are just more blessings I’m realizing this life of farming has given me and is giving my children. They definitely aren’t the easiest skills to learn or to teach your kids who just want to go. But they are ones that will help them in any aspect of their life and for that I’m very thankful.