As Parents Every Once in a While We See Our Worth

As we sit here in the living room tonight with both our sons I do not know if at this moment they are big fans of us. My oldest had a game today and though he played well off the bench I thought when I advised him of this I barely got a response. It has been a disappointing year for him in terms of what he had anticipated versus what has happened. My other son has struggled a bit recently with deciding who he is now that sports have kind of dried up.

So on any given day we never know what kind of drama we will have. Throw in a seventh grade daughter and we can have a bit of angst on any given day.

Still at times what we do as parents seems to have taken. A week or so ago my daughter and I were discussing supper plans. We were discussing spaghetti in specific, and pasta in general, and she advised she liked all pasta but spaghetti because when she was younger and it was just she and her older brother and I ( before we met my wife ) we had spaghetti all the time. I apologized to her and said I was sorry Dad had done the best he could but her answer was clear and immediate " No, you did great Dad." There was no time in that response for her to say something that she thought was the right thing to say, it was her true feeling.

That felt good.

Also last week my wife was talking about some of the students she works with and some of their unique challenges. Sometimes it is overwhelming hearing about kids whose parents literally say they do not have time to read a book with their child. My son who had entered the kitchen as this conversation went on said to my wife.." Do any of these kids have parents like Dad." I did not really hear him at first but my wife said no, these children did not have a father like he did. Later we talked about how much of a compliment this was to me. Considering that he had said it in a time frame when he was grounded I guess this says a bit about his understanding of what I have done for him.

That felt good.

Sometimes it seems that as much as they may not like you day to day what you do, what you stand for, what you are attempting to teach them, it does filter through.

That in itself makes you feel like the battle is worth it and that you all might come out for the better on the other side. Let us hope.