Passing the Torch

I am a retired educator, but not a retired parent. Actually, as I am experiencing it, I can retire from the chores of both---but not the caring for either. In response to my endless complaining about the ideas we are currently following as parents, teachers, and decision-makers, my daughter has been encouraging me to start a blog. After six months and dozens of drafts, I’ve been stuck. …until yesterday.
We were on the phone and I confessed my lack of progress. I expected that subtle tone of disappointment. Instead, she cheerily offered another suggestion for becoming unstuck. That’s when it hit me. She had become the grownup and I was acting like the kid who didn’t want to do his homework. Whoa, I wasn’t prepared for this! But isn’t this exactly what I have been working towards for her entire lifetime? Independence, competence, a sense of responsibility, caring for others…I am one proud papa!
If you are anything like me, you do not measure what you want for your child in test scores or “Annual Yearly Progress.” When asked the question, many parents respond with the tried and true: success and/or happiness. And in these troubling times of terrorism and toxic toys, it is easy to become preoccupied with issues of health and safety. I don’t have much to offer as a writer for how to make the world healthier or safer for children. I will leave those issues for others. But, I am fascinated with what kind of parenting and schooling results in kids we can be proud of. So my first challenge to myself, and anyone reading this: what is it, specifically, that we want for our children?