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Bursting with pride
This weekend, my house got eerily – but excitingly – quiet.You may remember that my eldest son is at camp all summer as a counsellor. This weekend, the younger two headed off to their camps as campers, leaving me with almost no responsibilities for two whole weeks. So why am I so proud? Raising kids is hard – trying to make sure they’re well-read, well-mannered, well-fed and generally kind, feeling individuals is a herculean task. But every once and a while you have a spectacular day when you realize you’re doing an okay job – they really are turning out… Read more…
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And just like that, he’s off
And just like that – he’s off. Well maybe not just like that. Let me back up a bit…. It’s been a whirlwind of activity at my house this past week or two. Family photo shoot first. My sister-in-law gave us a wonderful Christmas present of a family photo shoot with a wonderful local photographer, which we finally used to take what I hope turn out to be a marker of a magic moment in our lives just before my first little bird fledges. Of course, I wanted to make sure we looked cohesive as a family, so some frantic colour-coordination shopping needed to… Read more…
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Finding teachable moments
We’ve all said it. We’ve all had the frustration of having it said to us. “Just let me do it myself – it’s easier than explaining it to you.” It’s not easy to let go of something want done “just so” and to realize that in the long run, you’re better off investing the time up front.One of the things I’ve truly enjoyed through my career is nurturing and mentoring young people starting out. I think it’s important to take the time to invest in their progress. Yes, it is often easier to just do a task yourself, but when… Read more…
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Finding role models in a sea of scandal
As the latest inevitable next news story about Toronto’s beleaguered mayor, Rob Ford plays out, I wonder what kind of role models today’s youth have to look up to. Television, radio, newspapers and the internet provide an endless stream of coverage of disgraced politicians, athletes and businesspeople. Poor decision-making, judgement lapses and bad choices almost seem to be de rigueur. Wars are fought in the name of religion, military invasions change innocent people’s citizenship in an instant and elections are fraught with charges of vote-tampering. The natural cynicism of teens feeds on this kind of negativity and there seems to… Read more…
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Pop culture psychology
“Do you know who you are? Do you understand what has happened to you? Do you want to live this way?” If you’re a lover of Thursday night TV, you’ll recognize that line from Shonda Rhimes’ Grey’s Anatomy, just a few weeks ago. As crazy as it sounds, those words from character Dr. Cristina Yang resonated with me, as I journey through figuring out what’s next for me. When you’re a young professional, you define yourself by your career. You know who you are, you likely have clear and maybe goals. You feel you have lots of time to accomplish them… Read more…
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Getting ready to leave the nest – soon
My oldest child – a 17-year-old boy – is just on the cusp of leaving the nest. He’s in his last year of high school, and has recently received his first university acceptance letters for September. We’re still holding our breath and crossing our fingers for the first choice, but both options now on the table are good, and I’d be happy for him to take either. He’s more than ready to go. A very responsible kid, he’s been squirreling money away from his lifeguarding and swim instructor position, after having spent last summer as a camp counsellor at the… Read more…
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Weaving musical harmonies
My youngest child – an almost 14-year-old girl – has had the great fortune to sing in a really good community children’s choir for the past several years. This summer, the senior and chamber choirs have been invited to compete in the championship level of the World Choir Games in Riga, Latvia (another blog post altogether!). The choir came home with two gold medal standings the last time they competed in these games. Love of music shows up in the walldecal above my daughter’s bed. I had no idea, when she began at the age of 8, that we were starting down… Read more…
