I would usually have considered myself an awesome responsible parent. One who was trained in early childhood teaching I would have thought our children would turn out confident little go getters but alas we all have our little hang ups that have crept into our lives and as parents we felt the need to share with them another way of thinking...another process to to train our head and heart...another course of action to put each of us into the best state we can be in each day to conquer our trials...and let me tell you...having 4 teenage daughters in the house there have been many struggles over the years.
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| Three of our four dancing cherubs |
I have found myself reflecting and asking myself the big questions as to why life with girls can be so hard. Was it the time we left our third daughter at tap dancing class . Well after the rest of the family had jumped into the car and got out a few kilometres away at the shopping centre on our way home, we noticed that we were one child short...every parents nightmare. Like a cheetah on steroids we all jumped back into the car and I drove like a maniac back to the dance hall. Every minute in a heightened state of alarm we reached the local SES hall where the girls have their dancing class to find her sitting on the steps being watched over by some large emergency service rescuers protecting our little one like guardian angels in orange suits...
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| Child number 3 covered in playdough |
Or was it the time when I left Deano in charge as I ran errand and on my return I came home to a scene where child number 3 was covered in wet slippery play dough from head to toe and so was the entire lounge, dining room and and kitchen!...Deano blissfully unaware of the scene as he was busy studying his lecture notes.
Maybe it was the moment when I warned child number one not to get her hopes up for an award at school as there were so many other children in the class...she ended up with the award anyway...which was fantastic...I was just frightened of building up her hopes too much
Oh and then there was the time child number two painted the antique wooden rocking horse with nail polish and we totally cracked it at her instead of admiring her artistic ability.
There are so many times parents can blame themselves for the stress that each teen creates as they get older. I always thought that having a blind dad, one who has great accomplishments having two degrees and was self employed was going to set a great example of how to defy the odds for our girls...but in the end as I was reminded by my fire walking family...each child is different and will need to walk their own path regardless of what we say and what we do to set an example.
Some children have to walk on fire to know they can accomplish greatness and others just need to see the fire to spark an ember of passion in their soul. Just like Willie Wonker quoting Shakespeare said "Where is fancy bread in the heart or in the head?" Each child will have to decide when they will follow their hearts true passion to fulfil their individual greatness. It's during this time that as parents we hold our breath, guide, watch and wait for them to decide which path to take..."for I took the path less travelled" Robert Frost.
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