Teach Your Children Well

There is nothing more humbling than re-learning something you should already know from your kids.        During the last few months I have been working on focusing my time and efforts on the things in life that really matter.  We are pulled in so many directions that if we aren't careful we will end up living by default rather than by design.  School, work, family, friends and church--all of these parts of our lives add joy and meaning but they also require something of us.

My son is in high school and we are in the midst of the frenzy that surrounds academics and extracurriculars and test scores--oh, my!  Everything they do is IMPORTANT FOR THE FUTURE.  It will absolutely drive you mad, if you let it, and I have to admit, I let it at times.  This week there was an officer election in one of the groups he belongs to at school.  He and I went to toe-to-toe over whether he would or wouldn't run for office.  For some reason I doubled down on this, because, you know, SCHOLARSHIPS.  And COLLEGE APPLICATIONS.

Finally, after our umpteenth discussion, he turned to me and said "Mom, I don't have time for this.  I have these goals for this upcoming year" and he listed them for me.  "I need  to focus on them and not all the little stuff.  I can do this other thing another year.  It will be alright."

Well.  Apparently he's getting more from the books I'm reading and the podcasts I'm listening to than I am!  (And through osmosis, apparently.  Which could be quite the time-saver if I could figure out how to do it). I agreed to let it go and I couldn't have been prouder of him for standing up for himself, even if it was to me.  Or maybe especially to me.  He's setting his own boundaries and setting his own goals and that's exactly what he needs to do.

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