Be your kid’s…

It seems to me that lately work has consisted of digging through the things I don’t want to do in order to get to the things I do want to do. Often, this results in plugging away endlessly to complete items on a to-do list that brings me very little joy. Recently, this pattern is most evident in my lack of blog or social media posts, as well as the lack of movement off of the to-do list of anything that was, for a while, something other than grading for my adjunct classes. I could have sacrificed other time to keep more enjoyable work things going, but I won’t. So, don’t worry. I’ve still taken very loving care of myself and my family. But, in spite of the lack of time, I have been writing and thinking. This resulted in a sort of series of reflections on what we can be for our children, if we choose to slow down and take the time to be more relational. Off we go.

For the next several posts I want to offer ideas on how we can support children. I am calling it “Be your kid’s...” This is because it’s a result of a few personal experiences in which I believe I sort of served a role for my kids that was helpful, but could easily be classified as something other than being their parent. For example, “Be your kid’s lawyer,” which is one I will share about how we can support young people whether they’ve done something perhaps they shouldn’t have or not.

Before I launch into all of this, I want to talk a bit about where my thoughts originate. To be clear, a lot of my parenting reflections are a combination of expertise—in the form of education, training, reading, and experience as a counselor—and experience as a parent—with all the messiness, mistakes, and joy that includes. That’s why my writing is usually story focused. I often reflect on some experience I have had with my own children and consider how it might be relevant or therapeutically useful for someone else. Each of these forthcoming posts will be a combination of story and my professional reflections. They’re certainly not intended to sound like the one and only way to relate to children, rather encouragement to be attuned and intentional in our relationship with young folks so we can meet them where they need us most. None of us are perfect, and there’s no one way to do this thing.