There was a kid running at the neighborhood pool the other day. The pool attendant asked him to walk — as pool attendants have done since pools existed.The boy’s dad—a big-chested, serious kind of guy—strode over to the attendant and said (and I swear I’m not making this up) that he, as the child’s father, is the only one who tells his kid what to do. He made it clear that if the attendant has something to say, he should speak directly to him, not to the kid. He’ll decide if his kid needs direction.
The attendant kept his cool (I would have rolled my eyes or worse) and replied — carefully — that it was his job to make sure that people follow the pool rules, and “no running” is pretty much the universal pool rule. The dad pushed back and added some aggressive posturing to intimidate the pool guy, saying that he didn’t see anything wrong with what his kid was doing, so, as far as he was concerned, the pool guy needs to back off. In summary: The kid was free to run at the pool because the dad said so, fuck the pool rules, (this is America!) nobody tells my kid what to do except me.
Uh, ok.
“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Is cushiony perfection for our kids a new national obsession? We all know That Mom in the neighborhood, who is literally at the school every day, escalating everything to make sure her kid gets an A, is chosen for Student Council, or gets placed in the gifted program. Later, when her kid is in college, professors will hang up on her and laugh behind her back because she’ll call about something that’s none of her business.
All events are blessings given to us to learn from.
My middle schooler and his project partner failed to turn an assignment in on time, after many reminders of the deadline. The other kid’s mom (who I met once, briefly) came to my house and wouldn’t leave until I talked with her for nearly an hour about the Injustice. She was heartbroken for the disappointment her kid must be feeling at the failure, and wanted to fix it somehow. She left, but I think it was only because I told her I had no idea how to reverse the course of what happened and suggested she escalate to a school administrator if she believed the teacher could be convinced to reverse his decision. I haven’t heard back from her. Sports News
I don’t mean to brag, but my high schooler fails at quite a few things. None of them too epic, but there’s still time. We talked about it recently. You remember that person from your dorm days precisely because that person became an utterly forgettable shadow.
5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8 AM
- Exercise
- Map Out Your Day
- Eat a Healthy Breakfast
- Visualization
- Make Your Day Top Heavy
This is an open notice to people who know my kids: You can tell them what to do. It’s really, really OK. Tell them not to put their feet up on your coffee table. Tell them to stop running, not to play with that knife or not to touch your things. Whatever the rules are at your place, tell my kid to fall in. I have a selfish motive.
Source: Medium
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