Today’s post is found at DMagazine’s parenting blog called Tiny Dallas. They were so sweet to have me on their cool site. While you’re there, check out Dallas MOAT Cynthia Collins wonderful spread (DHome). She’s one gifted lady who is as humble as she is talented… and she’s an amazing mom.
Anyway, here you go:
Actually, My Kid is Special
by Kay Wyma
From one parent to another — or from one parent to all the people compelled to opine on the “right” way to raise kids though they’ve never had one to raise: Who knew you could love someone as much as you love your child?
From the minute a stick shows positive, we parents begin the welcome party. Some of us must first revive ourselves from the unexpected. Others cling to dreams with guarded hope. All of us resolve, as we leave the maternity ward, to do anything – anything – to prepare, to love, and to protect our little namesakes so that all will go well for them … because we parents love our children.
The question, though, is how to love them. Pre 1960s, parents, educators and society demonstrated love by pushing early independence. Among schoolboys and girls fortunate enough to get the nod, for example, unsupervised paper routes were common. Awake before sunrise, young workers not only delivered the news, they folded papers, sold subscriptions and managed the money.
Such scenes lingered a few more decades. A friend told me recently that during high school she and her neighbor job-shared at their small-town dry cleaners. Alternating workdays, they handled the orders, managed the store, and closed each night. And each evening, key in hand, one of the teens deposited that day’s earnings in the bank. And how old were they when they started? Fifteen.
Good luck finding similar scenes these days. Just take my son and his friend who, in response to my “get a summer job” directive, set out to prove they were un-hireable….
Click here to read the rest: DMagazine – Tiny Dallas
Thanks for having me, DMagazine! … and thanks for walking the road with me.
-Kay
