If I had one hour to save the world, I would spend the first 55 minutes understanding the problem, and the last five minutes solving it.
Albert Einstein
BC (before children)
The most important job in the world is also the one we are least prepared for. It’s thrilling the first time we hear we are about to become parents, and prepare by learning as much as we can before the baby’s arrival.
AC (after children)
Because Kids Don’t Come with Manuals® we quickly understand training is on the job; very much like a reading the recipe as the pot boils over on the stove.
There is little preparation for the on the spot decisions you have to make. The most comfortable path is to do what you know, what your parents did, because after all you turned out ok.
The national news surrounding the Adrian Peterson event moved him from anointed celebrity to condemned criminal. Companies such as Nike and Castrol pulled major endorsement deals. The NFL was paralyzed in forming a response.
How parents should parent was a topic on news programs, along with culture, geography, and religion. It’s easy to (pardon the pun) be a Monday morning quarterback and judge the way others parent.
At the same time, there was an interesting article this week in the WSJ about a non-profit program called Parent-Child-Home which got a boost from the Robin Hood Foundation. Funds sent literacy specialists to visit families of young children in low income areas encouraging them to read to their children and not talk ‘babyese’.
Both situations, although dramatically different, are similar in the sense that parents simply do what they learned from their own parents.
It is important to begin a national conversation on parenting.
- Take the time to really understand the problem rather than talking in sound bites
- Share research on long term impact, whether it is reading to children or corporal punishment.
Basically educate, don’t legislate. - Help parents understand they don’t have to do what has always been done, but can make choices how to parent based on their own values.
Perhaps Nike and Castrol can move the money kept back for endorsements, and in its place fund this important dialog.
In parenting, there is more than one right answer. The advisors at Parental Wisdom® would be happy to start the conversation.
We believe in this so strongly, we patented it.
Thoughts?
Tina Nocera, Founder
