PARENTS - EXPLORE YOUR OPTIONS

It is amazing sometimes how much children are just like or a lot like their parents. As parents we don't realize no matter how young are old, are children are watching us and learning behaviors from us. Children can take on their parents strengths, weaknesses, fears, worries, bad/good habits etc. As parents we often times don't realize what lessons we are teaching our children simply through are actions. It is not enough to say do as I say not as I do. That may work sometimes, usually when they are young, but we must keep in mind that we are leaving impressions in our children's minds based on our actions. As the saying goes actions speak louder than words.

With that said our children also learn from the world and people around them, they ultimately have to make the choice, especially as the near adulthood what type of person they choose to be. They should examine what things we as parent taught them that were good and should be kept as well as things that should be left behind.

I was blessed to have a mother who entered corporate America in her early twenties which allowed her to meet and work with people that exposed her to new experiences. Now I must give my grandmother credit she believed in taking her children and grandchildren to the different museums, zoos etc in Chicago as well as taking her children on trips downtown to show them there was life outside of their neighborhoods. My mother was reading by the time she was 4 years old. My grandmother was also a strong proponent of education, reading, and being wise with finances. She also was wise enough to send my uncle down to a neighbors house a sort of mentoring because the neighbor was a great husband and took great care of his family. As a young boy my uncle probably doesn't know why he was forced to visit that family often. Nevertheless my uncle has been married for 37 years and he is a great husband, father, man! My grandparents did not have much money, they were raising 5 children in Rockwell projects but they did instill values, standards, and placed expectations on their childern. They used the resources that they had to give their childern the best they knew how!

My mother embraced that concept and expanded upon it thanks to her involvement with people different from herself. By networking and socializing with her co-workers it opened up the door to choices in education and different activities for her children to be involved in and allowed her to follow through on them. My sister and I never attended a neighborhood school, not that all neighborhood schools are not up to par however the majority of neighborhood schools in Chicago are not quality schools!

My mother also made sure I explored/tried a variety of things. I took ballet and jazz lessons, along with piano, tennis, golf, gymnastics. Not all simultaneously of course but over the course of my childhood. I spent a summer or two attending Metro for girls. I also went to the Illinois Math and Science Academy to participate in a program there. While attending Providence St. Mel School I studied abroad in Switzerland and Paris (all my parents had to provide me with was spending money!).

I in no way turned out to be the perfect model child but I thank my mother and as I looked back she provided me with everything she knew how to prepare me to enter into this world as prepared and equipped as possible. After my mother did all she could I exercised choice and my free will and made decisions for my life. As parents we must understand that our children will not do everything we want or think they should do nevertheless as parents we should give them as much as they can in order for them to grow into independent, self-sufficient thinkers.

I say all this to say we can blame the "man" we can blame the "system" we can blame the "quality of the schools" are children attend or we can take a long hard look at ourselves to determine if we have done our best!

There are tons of programs/associations/groups/projects out there that can assist you whether you are living below or above the poverty line, middle income etc.

Here are some examples:

Junior Achievement www.ja.org (US)
T.Y.E (Tomorrow's Young Entrepreneur's) http://www.tyentrepreneur.com/ (Illinois)
Youth Entrepreneur Camp http://www.aaceryec.org/ (Georgia)
Metro/Midtown http://www.midtown-metro.org/Metro/ (Chicago)
Future Business Leaders of America http://www.fbla-pbl.org/ (US)
4-H Clubs http://4-h.org/ (US)

This is just a start their are programs offered at your local libraries, colleges, volunteer programs that your children can be involved in not-for-profit etc.

Be the change that you want to see in the world. That change starts with you, your home, and then you going out and helping someone who cannot help themselves or needs some assistance.

Be a blessing and be blessed!
Epiphany Essentials