Parents Damage Children?!?

In spite of my academic obligations I occasionally get to read something just for pure enjoyment. Today I started The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. This old man dies and consequently finds that in heaven you meet 5 people from your life who you have vastly affected {whether you knew it in life or not} and 1 by 1 they teach you what the meaning of your life was based on the incidences you had with them. I’m about halfway through; it’s pretty good so far. The last thing I read: “All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of the handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair.” Well never mind that parents pass on quite pleasant attributes as well, huh. Hey Mom- thanks for teaching me to be well-rounded and giving me bootylicious DNA. Pops- thanks for teaching me to not always take things at face value and the importance of reliability.

Nonetheless, it reminds me of how much responsibility it takes to raise a child. (As a future educator, it boggles my mind that teachers get paid so little considering all that we expect from them and entrust to them.) Some of my friends have children now and it’s interesting to see how it has changed them, or somewhat regrettably, not changed them. At any rate, it’s just as easy to pass along bad habits as it is good; children in their own right are incredible little people. Parents do the best they can to teach their children well {cue the CSN&Y}but if the parents are dipshits, their best efforts most likely turn out yet another generation of dipshits. How do you learn to be a parent but from your own experiences?

* Albom, Mitch D. The Five People you Meet in Heaven. Hyperion, 2003