Rome Wasn’t

 

According to Wikipedia, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” means “…the need for time to create great things.”

We live in an instant gratification world, and having to wait is not something most of us relish. However, often times in order to do the best we can we have to be resigned to the fact that it might take time. 

It’s easy to give up too soon, to become frustrated or bored, and not want to continue. I’m guilty of this. I prefer tasks that can be accomplished quickly, and because of this I shy away from things that take time to complete. In junior high I preferred cooking to sewing in home economics class. Chances were I could whip up a meal quickly, but it would take days, dare I say weeks, for me to finish sewing an outfit. 

In teaching our children we need to remind them that it is okay to work on a project over a series of days vs quickly throwing something together in a few hours. Hopefully the satisfaction of a job done well will encourage kids to remember that “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” 

In fact, it might even be a good idea to show pictures of the architecture of Ancient Rome, or perhaps the Egyptian pyramids, and learn more about the time that was required to build them.