Mistakes...

I once found a blender blade drying on the kitchen counter and thought it a good idea to bring it to my mother - I fell on it and ended up with 8 stitches!  That was a mistake!  I twice brought houses at the height of the real estate boom - the boom busted thereafter.  Those were mistakes too!   Then, I thrice had to be sent to the hospital for swallowing a penny, plum seed, and a hot dog.  All mistakes!  Man I've made plenty of mistakes in my life.  Some of which I choose not to expound on today, all of which I've learned from, and none of them will I repeat again- God willing!

 

With all my mistakes though, with all OUR mistakes as parents even, I think it important to explain to our children our mistakes.  This because to hide your children from your mistakes serves only to booby-trap their very destiny.  It also serves to illegitimize your own struggles in the process.  Now I've come across several detractors of this thinking.  It is to them I rebut...“Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." So I ask, if this rings true, then it is our responsibility to illuminate our history –all of it.  Not doing so would leave them just as vulnerable to your mistakes as you were...and doomed! 

 

You know, I’ve learned in life that while it’s true that there is nothing in life more powerful than experiencing a lesson first hand, there is also nothing more beneficial than being able to avoid those lessons through wisdom.  So parents, what wisdom will you impart? Show them your scars and stitches, illuminate your history to solidify theirs.  Share your story and use wisdom in doing so.  I do.  My kids have to hear my story every time they even think about eating a plum...

 

To read more please be sure to purchase a copy of my soon to be published book chronicling my life as a single father.  Also, feel free to donate toward its costs if you so choose by clicking the donate button @ http://chroniclesofasinglefather.blogspot.com. Thanks for taking this journey with me.