Rule #6
Master the message
I've been baffled since becoming a mother why my skills as a teacher, communicating ideas in a classroom, haven't yet been channeled through to my communication skills as a mother.
When I taught biology I was an electric spark full of energy, riding a natural high, as I taught my students.
But I don't always have that abundance of energy with my daughters.
I wish I did, but I don't. I think if I did I might be able to inspire, educate, and entertain my daughters more.
Steve Jobs excelled at giving presentations that left people feeling informed yet inspired to achieve their dreams. I wonder if he was able to channel this same kind of energy as a father for his children?
I think in subtle ways I inspire my daughters to dream big, but I wish I had more energy and made more of an effort to create fun and fascinating activities for my daughters. I think they're getting the messages I send to them, but I know I could do better.
Why am I not as energetic as a mother as I was as a teacher?
4 comments:
probably because your students didn't wake you up in the middle of the night and then up at the crack of dawn... you cared for them, but a mother's love really is all consuming and it requires excessive amounts of energy... on top of laundry, cooking, cleaning, and all that good stuff.... I;m willing to bet that when Steve Jobs went home, he probably told his kids... not right now honey, daddy needs a drink, LOL
seriously, parenting is the toughest job because of all we invest in our kids. we can't be 100% all the time
or maybe, we're just getting old, LOL
I've often wondered this too about Steve Jobs... actually, with all the amazing stuff that he did, I often wondered if he truly had the time he felt he needed with his family, because of how hard I know it is to balance family and work.
I totally agree with what Cristina said before me - being a biology teacher sounds a little like being a grandparent (or at least how the grandparents in my life describe it!).
My mother-in-law, who helps me with babysitting, said to me the other day, "How do you do all this?"
To which I replied, "What do you mean? You watch my 3 kids for me - you do it too!"
"But at the end of the night," she said "I get to go home... that's the big difference in being a grandparent vs being a parent that I've notice!"
So True!
The two ladies who've commented covered the angles I was looking at. I really could not have said it better and agree wholeheartedly.
I can't seem to do that for my kids too. Perhaps I expect too much of them and have very little patience when it comes to my own kids. I seriously need to work on that. In fact in church today, I prayed for more patience with my kids so that I may be a better educator to them.
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