parenthood

Last night Michael and I watched the movie, Everybody's Fine.
Sad show. I'm not usually a fan of sad movies. Who needs to be reminded of the hardest times in their lives?
Nevertheless, I will say that the positive part of watching this was that it made me think about parenting. The movie clearly portrayed what it is you should not do as a parent. It perfectly depicted a parent who, inspite of his fatherly love and best intentions, comes across as an incredibly pushy and judgmental authority figure to his children. As a result of this pushiness and lack of acceptance, he pushed his children away from him. None of them wanted to carry on a relationship with their father because they didn't want to have to face his constant fault-finding and negativity.
First of all, I think this is very true. And I thank my father for being so aware of this fine line between concern and pushiness, and doing everything he could to not cross it. I always felt he was proud of me, I always felt accepted, and I always felt friendship from him. As a result, I've always wanted to keep him part of my life.
So I walk away from this reverie in hopes that I can remember how important it is to love and accept the people in your life. If you don't, you push them away. If you push them away, you lose a relatiionship and you lose what could be an exchange of positive influence.

Another note about parenting. I was in my doctor's office waiting room yesterday, and as I was reading from Parenthood magazine, I found something that really stuck out to me. A lady wrote in the following:
"I'm a teacher, and it blows me away how overly accommodating today's parents are to our kids. I feel this has a direct correlation to the level of respect kids show adults--including their own parents! I frequently remind my class that I will not indulge them the way they are used to at home."
I thought that was so well spoken that I wanted to write it down somewhere. This lady captured my thoughts exactly. I swear I've muttered the same things!
Just something to remember and think about.

That's it for now.