Purposeful Parent Tip: No matter what your age when you become a parent, there’s always wisdom to be shared.
There were many things I swore I’d never do when I was a young adult, but the one that sticks out the most is that I did not want to be an ‘older’ mom. My parents were in their forties (horror!) when they had me and then my younger sister and I remember being a little embarrassed that my parents were older than those of my friends. Continue reading
Purposeful Parent Tip: Death is a part of life. Choose your words carefully when discussing this with your child.
Like many, I was shocked to hear the news of Whitney Houston’s death. Upon seeing the news blip, I immediately ran to my computer to see if it was true or perhaps just my ears playing tricks on me. It was all over Facebook, Twitter, and every online news channel imaginable. Within a few seconds of reading this news, the tears welled up in my eyes and I began to cry. Continue reading
Purposeful Parent Tip: Nurture and support your child’s passion.
Christmas Day 2011. “This is the best day of my life,” said my teenaged son Christopher. Was it because he’d gotten his favorite video game? Was it the anticipation of the home-made ravioli my father had prepared? Was he simply embracing the season of joy and love? In a word, no. There was only one reason my son awoke early that day filled with joy. The NBA lockout was over and it was game day.
For those who know my son, they are well aware of his passion for basketball. He has played in the recreation leagues since he was about five or six. He has risen up from the Biddy Leagues to a place on the Juniors, getting better and better each season. He loves the game. He loves the players (ok, well, not ALL of them) and his favorite team is the L.A. Lakers, followed closely by the N.Y. Knicks.
To listen to my son speak of the game is no less than astonishing. Every stat, every play, every player. It truly is amazing to me. 
If ESPN would permit a 14-year old boy to be a commentator for a game, I’m certain that he would rival any of the seasoned faces around the SportsCenter desk. While there certainly are days that I truly feel like my head will explode if I hear one more fact about a particular game or player (I suspect his teachers feel the same way), I cannot help but marvel at how he has embraced this sport and the amount of information that he has grasped in such a short period of time.
His dream (like many boys his age) is to play in the NBA. Every time he watches a game and sees a cool move by one of his idols, he quickly hits the pause button on the remote, goes outside and tries it out for himself. Within a short time, he inevitably comes back into the house saying that he’s “mastered” the shot or he’s learned why his own shots weren’t working and has now fixed it.
This is amazing to me. Perhaps it’s because I don’t have an athletic bone in my body. I never played sports. I was a cheerleader for a short time (and not a good one either), but it is safe to say that my school teams did as well as they did because I wasn’t on the team! I do enjoy watching sports despite knowing very little about “how they work”. I
thoroughly enjoy watching my kids play however. (Probably a little too much the people sitting next to me might say!)
It is safe to say that in the past year, I have learned more about basketball than I ever thought possible. I know so much more about the players and the particular strategies that I can now have a conversation with my son about it. When he says “That was a travel”, I know what that means. When I say, “Wasn’t that a technical?” he explains why it was not.
My son lights up when he’s talking about the game. And he talks about it all the time. If there was a high school class on basketball stats or history, he’d ace it with his eyes closed. Until then, he will have to muddle through freshman algebra and world history.
I don’t know if my son will make it to the NBA or even a college team for that matter, but I do know this. His love of the game will follow him through his whole life and he will pass this along to his own children one day. Until then, I will continue to be the sounding board on topics such as unfair trades, bad ref calls, and arguments about which team is
best.
Your child’s passion is going to come in ways you may not expect. Be sure to nurture it. Who knows? You might very well be looking at the next Michael Jordan!
Purposeful Parent Tip: Know the Real Reason You Want to Have Children.
Several years ago, I watched “Parenthood” with Steve Martin. There was a scene where Keanu Reeves’ character was commenting on parenthood saying something like, and I paraphrase here, “You need a license to catch a fish or to drive a car, but they’ll let anyone become a parent.” Continue reading
Purposeful Parent Tip: Embrace your intuition and inner voice in addition to the virtual parenting tools.
Today’s parent has more information available to them than ever before. No matter what the issue or challenge they are experiencing, there’s an app or a Google search result that will deliver up an answer with a click of a mouse. But have we exchanged our own intuition and gut feelings for virtual experts and quick fixes? Continue reading
Purposeful Parent Tip: Throw away the checklists and join the marathon adventure called Parenting!
In my previous life as a corporate career woman, I was known for my project management skills. I could plan out a project, determine the tasks needed to be done, assign the right people, and nurture it along the way to completion on time and on budget. In fact, I was so good at it, that some of the parting words from my former
manager when I got laid off were, “You should find a project management job.
You’re good at that.” Continue reading