I started out as an athlete and a father of two kids. I never fully understood the importance of self-awareness until, well, it was time for my kids to go to college. I got to the point that my kids’ lives were no longer mine to control. I learned so much about my own mind and attitude, but also so much about my kids. I also realized that I needed to figure out how to be more mindful of myself and the people around me.
Philadephia Sixers owner Nick Pasternak took a very different approach to self-awareness. Instead of focusing on his role as a parent, the 6ers owner focused on his role as a father. He said, “I want to think about myself as having a “bigger” role in my kids lives.” He explained, “I want to be a bigger role in their lives than just being a parent, and to be more of an advocate.
This isn’t a revelation. Many of us have a tendency to be more self-aware when we are parenting our children. I’ve heard countless times from parents that we need to be more self-aware of our own behavior and how it affects our kids. As parents, we often have to set the example for our kids. I think Nick Pasternak is exactly right to focus on being a better dad.
Its a good thing we are more aware. It means we can be better advocates for our kids. Not that we are better at it, but that we are more aware.
Yes, this is true. I think a lot of us get so caught up in being the best advocate for our kids (with good intentions) that we forget that we are the ones who are doing the parenting by doing the parenting. It’s not our fault if we don’t always do as good a job as we think we should.
You know, I just read an article about how much time parents spend on their kids and I was totally shocked at how much time we spend on our kids, and how much time parents spend on themselves. I am not saying that its wrong to spend that time on ourselves. I am saying that its not always the right thing to do.
I’m not sure why we spend so much time on ourselves, because I think most of us would agree that it is very important. But there is an even bigger problem with it. Parents are not always great at what they do and we get to be the ones to make it so.
As a father myself, I can tell you are not the only parent who’s spent more time on themselves than they did on their kids. And that’s not just because they got a divorce.
Most people are not great at what they do because the work is difficult. Its a tough job. I am not talking about a job where you just do the best job you can possibly do, but a job where there is no room for failure and no room for even a small possibility of failure.
I am talking about a job where there is no room for even a small possibility of failure and no room for even a small possibility of success. But I digress.