Inspire Your Kids (because they’re really listening)!

Do you remember your father telling you any words of wisdom?  I definitely do.  The first one that pops into my mind is “If you ever do that again, I’ll … (insert genuine but never enforced threat here)!”

As I’m raising Book Boy and Ballet Girl, one thing I’m trying to impress on them is the value of practice.  I can hear myself saying to Book Boy “…if you keep practicing, you will absolutely get better” and saying to Ballet Girl “mistakes are good things because it means you’re getting closer to being better!”.

When you hear your child say them back to you in an unexpected situation, it’s like you’ve hit the Parenting Jackpot.

This morning, we brought Book Boy to his hockey evaluation tryout.  Now this is his first year of hockey and when we got there, most other kids had already been playing hockey for 1 to 2 years so they were skating much better than even I could!

When Book Boy got on the ice, he could walk and stand but he definitely couldn’t skate and play hockey like the others.  My heart was breaking inside.  But he was a trooper and kept trying and trying.  I was so proud of him… I don’t know if I would have been that strong in that situation.

Later that afternoon, Clean Mom explained what happend… “Do you know what Book Boy said?  When his tears dried up and his boogers were just crusts under his nose, he said “Mommy, do you know why I’m going back on the ice?  Because Daddy said that if I keep practicing and practicing, I’m going to get better.  And I want to be the best skater on the ice!”

I love being a Dad… and so should you!

Be Sociable, Share!

•