And a big thank you to my beautiful wife for her wisdom and steady hand…
Love and anger
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Tag Archives: parenting
Getting zen over being late…
I’ve seen the article “Quit Doing These 8 Things For Your Teen This Year If You Want To Raise An Adult” zipping around FB and I like it. While “harassing your kid to be on time” wasn’t on the list it’s none-the-less one I feel caught doing most mornings. Can’t everyone see the time slipping by during yet another leisurely breakfast? How do they think they can make lunch, get dressed, pack their bags and get out the door in ten minutes when it’s never been done before? Most mornings I’m a buzzing time bomb, calling out “It’s 7:31. Now it’s 7:43!” No more. I’m adopting the mantra that learning to be late is a good thing. If you don’t like the consequences then change your behaviours.
My parental safety net default was put to the test this past morning. My daughter’s bus leaves at 8:03. As far back as 7:35 I could see things were going to go south. Come 7:55 I was sure of it. By 8:04 it was confirmed. I watched passively as the temperature rose and the tornado grew. When the bus whizzed past and the backpack fell to the floor, open, amidst a dizzying twirling teen I waited patiently for the realization to hit, options to be considered. I was available to fill in as the emergency taxi this time but I’m adjusting my routine to be around less during departure time. It’s not that I want to see my daughter stressed out in the morning. It’s more about wanting her to learn the consequences of messing up. Taking responsibility for ourselves is a lifelong pursuit and far better it be over a missed bus then something that has real effect later on in life.
Sometimes the best thing we can do for our kids is to stand back and watch. We’ll see how things go for the rest of the week…
Crawling to the summer…
Is it just me or has this school year been the classic sprint marathon? As I stumble into the last day of June and the hopes and promises (and inevitable question “Dad, what should I do now?”) of summer, it feels like a good time for some self reflection.
September is always mental. It’s the true start of any year. School starts. Sport/art/community activities start and the malaise of summer days are quickly replaced with racing to an after school program (or two), the need to pack lunches, sign forms and plan and pay for winter activities. October was just as big a punch in the face, as was November. December offered a faint bit of hope – the calm before the holiday storm. January charged in and February and March were a blur. April offered a wee respite with winter activities ending and a week or two before summer activities began but it’s now a distant memory. May passed in a day and June has been the long painful crawl to the end.
I know it’s not just me as I’ve talked to other parents who’ve said they are “done”. We’ll use the next couple of months to recoup and refresh with days on the dock or hikes in the mountains depending on where we all live. G&T’s are not geographically specific. So let’s raise a glass of our favourite beverage and cheers our effort. We made it through another year of permission forms, sick kids, car pools, meal plans, laundry needs, project deadlines, homework dread and never ending cheque writing. Enjoy the summer and rest up. September is looming in the distance…
One parent behaviour
And a shout out to all the single parents out there – we all know this ain’t an easy gig.
Fit stress
It’s ironic how stressed and run down we get rushing around to support our kids health and fitness…
Small gestures
I found this in my sketchbook yesterday half finished. After re-reading it and checking it against the sketches before and after I figure I wrote this at the end of November. Life obviously got so busy I forgot to post it. The message is still relevant though, even if things are quite as manic at the moment. All I have to do is wait a few days and there’s a good chance I’ll be right back there…
Just so-so…
Heroic Girls – Part 2
Last week I posted a sketch that was inspired by John Marcotte’s website, Heroic Girls. John has kindly give “The Art of Dad” a shout out on his site and I invite you to have a look at the great work he’s doing if you haven’t seen it already! Thanks John, keep it up!
Getting old…
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The pains of puberty and school forms
This form came home from school and, being an art kind of guy, I was immediately hit by the accompanying illustration. Stock art. Generic. Meaningless. Creepy.
If I was a kid, not only would the content of the form freak me out, so would the picture. Why a family? Why are they all swimming? Why are they all smiling except the little girl? Nope, no good. So, I came up with three better ideas that I’d love to see accompany a future form. Check them out:
The Art of Dad 