Okay, first, I love this. Second, it makes me think of this quote from Barbie (yes, Barbie) where someone in the movie said, "Mothers stand still so daughters can see how far they've traveled," or something like that. And that quote made me SO MAD. Because it was all about this narrative of mothers giving up things for their children. Let me tell you, I have a mother who gave up things for her children. It is not at all a great situation. And I didn't ask her to do that.
Instead of mother's standing still, how about mothers model for their children what movement looks like? What it looks like to run and leap and sometimes, fall flat on your face? And how about mothers bring their children along on that journey? How about we travel together?
So interesting! Yes, that quote doesn’t work for me either. (And—ad nauseam—what about fathers?) And as my kids become teens/young adults, I think about modeling what it looks like to continue to create as you age.
I love how you included your kids in your writing/publishing journey. As a Gen X-er myself, my parents model was also to hide everything about their working life from us. I wish I would have broken that mold a bit more with my own daughter.
Just seeing these comments as a fellow Gen X-er. My parents talked about their work all the time - they had their own nonprofit and we lived it. I was known on occasion to bring a book to dinner out so I could read while they talked work :-) but I also listened. Most of our family friends were there colleagues. I spent a lot of time in their office and my earliest jobs (at 11 or so) were helping out there. I never really thought about it in these terms but it definitely modeled the idea that work is something absorbing. As much as we talk about life/work balance, there are good things about modeling the importance of your work to your kids. I think the way I grew up definitely impacted how I share my writing (and also my nonwriting work) with my daughter.
Okay, first, I love this. Second, it makes me think of this quote from Barbie (yes, Barbie) where someone in the movie said, "Mothers stand still so daughters can see how far they've traveled," or something like that. And that quote made me SO MAD. Because it was all about this narrative of mothers giving up things for their children. Let me tell you, I have a mother who gave up things for her children. It is not at all a great situation. And I didn't ask her to do that.
Instead of mother's standing still, how about mothers model for their children what movement looks like? What it looks like to run and leap and sometimes, fall flat on your face? And how about mothers bring their children along on that journey? How about we travel together?
So interesting! Yes, that quote doesn’t work for me either. (And—ad nauseam—what about fathers?) And as my kids become teens/young adults, I think about modeling what it looks like to continue to create as you age.
I love how you included your kids in your writing/publishing journey. As a Gen X-er myself, my parents model was also to hide everything about their working life from us. I wish I would have broken that mold a bit more with my own daughter.
It's odd, looking back on it, what a rigid separation there was between work and home--at least for white collar workers (which my parents were).
Just seeing these comments as a fellow Gen X-er. My parents talked about their work all the time - they had their own nonprofit and we lived it. I was known on occasion to bring a book to dinner out so I could read while they talked work :-) but I also listened. Most of our family friends were there colleagues. I spent a lot of time in their office and my earliest jobs (at 11 or so) were helping out there. I never really thought about it in these terms but it definitely modeled the idea that work is something absorbing. As much as we talk about life/work balance, there are good things about modeling the importance of your work to your kids. I think the way I grew up definitely impacted how I share my writing (and also my nonwriting work) with my daughter.