A look into all the craziness that is my life.
"Be a leader, not a follower." I can't count how many times my husband and I say this to our son. It's a hard lesson to instill in a child, but we believe it's an extremely important one. It could just be one of the hardest things to teach our children. How do we teach an 8 year old to pass up the path of least resistance to take the path less traveled, sometimes the harder route in life? Sometimes, even as adults, we don't necessarily have a firm grasp of this concept. Teaching the alphabet, numbers, addition, subtraction, etc. seems like a cake walk compared to this all encompassing concept. While 2 +2 will always equal 4, the concept of being your own person, following your instincts, carving a path for yourself, and doing the right thing isn't always so black and white. There's not always a constant involved. Peer pressure can be a powerful thing, no matter how well we teach our kids to do what they know is right. It can be an action that will alienate them from the pack, could cause them undue strife in their life, and really, no parent wants their child to be left out, to be teased or bullied. Finding the balance can be nearly impossible. We teach our son to treat everyone well, look out for those who may need a friend, don't tease or bully, walk away from adversity when you can, and only fight when there's no other option. Everyone seems to think raising a girl is harder than a boy, but I am finding many contradictions in trying to raise a well-adjusted young man. Society tells us that our boys need to be tough, "Don't be a sissy," but I also want my boy to be kind and generous, accepting and caring. We try to teach loyalty to friends, but we also need to teach how to walk away from a friend who may not hold the same convictions and beliefs as we do, walk away when that friend becomes more destructive than constructive. It's all a complicated balancing act sometimes. I guess all we can do is continue to teach our kids to do what's right and to be a good example, even if it's more difficult than falling in line with the pack. In my opinion, this is the most important lesson we can teach our kids and it's a lesson we, as adults, sometimes need to remember in our own daily lives. We can lead by example, even if we don't always get it right. We're not perfect parents, we make lots of mistakes, but we owe it to our kids to keep trying, keep learning, keep teaching, keep supporting, and to keep loving our kids.
Okay, so this is my second attempt at a blog. It's more for myself, but I encourage anyone who is interested to follow along. Writing has always been a bit therapeutic for me since I always seem to have a million things going on in my head at any given time. It helps to put them down in writing. I won't go into great detail about my background because I believe if you read the blog, you will get the gist of my life, but I will say I am a work at home mom of one son who is 8 years old. My husband and I have been married for almost 10 years now. My life seems to ALWAYS be crazy, but I wouldn't change it for anything. I guess the rest of my background, likes, dislikes, opinions, etc. will be reveled within my blog posts. So, come along with me on my crazy journey!