Norwich by Karen Crouse

Author:Karen Crouse
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

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FREEDOM RIDER

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Lesson: Building Resilience and Responsibility Through Risk-Taking

The first settlers in Norwich recognized that in any organism, the early stages of development were critical. The farmers saw that calves or seedlings raised in a nourishing environment developed greater resistance to disease and were more robust. Simon Pearce is not a farmer, though his father, Philip, attempted to make a living off the land in Ireland before becoming a successful potter. During his childhood in County Cork, Simon absorbed enough lessons to fill his own golden book. He applied what he learned to raising his four children, all boys, in Vermont with his US-born wife, Pia. Simon’s intuitive approach to parenting was complemented by the clinical background of Pia, who had a master’s in human development and a doctorate in education. The couple’s youngest son, Kevin, would credit the resilience and confidence he developed as a result of his upbringing for his recovery from a life-threatening accident.

Kevin’s father was reared in Ireland in a house with no telephone or refrigerator. His family didn’t own a car. His parents rejected materialism for a lifestyle that stressed creativity and utilitarian beauty. Simon’s children would grow up with all the creature comforts—and then some—but also with a deep appreciation for things like family and nature that are easily taken for granted. In 1981, Pearce immigrated from Ireland to the United States and turned a renovated textile mill perched atop the falls of the Ottauquechee River in Quechee, Vermont, into a multimillion-dollar tableware empire. His glassblowing business has expanded to include a string of retail outlets and several factories. The Pearces settled on Elm Street in Norwich, a half hour’s drive from the mill. They were drawn to the town by the wide-open spaces and quality public education. It was the perfect combination for their active family, which includes Andrew, Adam, and Kevin, who inherited their father’s dyslexia, and David, who was born with Down syndrome. “We didn’t have any sense of the athletic talent the town was known for,” Pia said. “We made the move only to try to make the school experience the best it possibly could be.” The Pearces bought a yellow clapboard colonial with a falling-down hay barn, which they winterized and converted into a hangout for their boys, replete with a sleeping loft, a giant recreation room with Ping-Pong and air-hockey tables, and a skateboard ramp in the back. The space provided a place for the kids to convene and configure their unstructured time for fun and camaraderie.

The barn housed a kind of utopian society created by the Pearce boys and governed by their own rules, the antithesis of the regimented, adult-supervised camps and clubs that characterize modern-day play. By design, the boys were left largely to their own devices. Simon has few fond memories of school, where his dyslexia went undiagnosed. His early classroom failures and subsequent professional success informed his philosophy that a child’s best teachers are his parents, whose lessons and values provide a road map to adulthood that encourages ample detours.

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