Relationship Spotting: How to Raise Your Child Properly

I know that the headline of this article sounds like a loaded sentence. I know you may be thinking “What the Hell does a gay guy know about raising a kid? If I want advice on picking up guys or drinking 10 vodka tonics without ending up in the hospital, I will ask him. But child-rearing?” While you make a very valid point, there is one thing that qualifies me to speak about parenting: I was a child once, and I ended up being a pretty bad-ass adult. So my mom must have done something right. BOOM!

I was blessed to have two beautiful sisters, who (between them) have three beautiful kids. I feel so lucky to be able to be part of their lives, as the next generation of our family grows up and makes all the wrong decisions and all the right mistakes. One huge difference I have noticed between their generation and mine is the emphasis on materialism. When I was a kid (maybe its because we were dirt poor) all we had to play with was each other. If we were bored, we went and got lost in the woods for 8 hours. If we didn’t have electricity, we built forts and made toys out of paper. My 8-year-old nephew may be able to jailbreak an iPhone, but I can’t help but feel that he is missing out on a fundamental piece of his childhood. That is to say, his childhood itself.

In modern times it is easier than every to throw money at your problems. I think it is important to remember though, that spending time with your children isn’t a problem. Its an opportunity, and one that is denied to many people. So the next time you think about plunking your kid down in front of a TV or gaming console so you can have 5 minutes to yourself, think about how much you are going to want those 5 minutes back when your kid is grown and gone.

When I was a kid, my mom worked incredibly long hours to feed 4 kids by herself. I didn’t get much time with her as a result, but out of all the memories I do have of my childhood (of which there are about 30) she is in almost every one of them. Its a sad fact of life that we all grow up, and we all eventually leave this world just was easily as we came into it. The only really worthwhile thing that we can do on Earth is forge strong relationships with the people around us. And out of all of relationships, there is none more important than the bond between parent and child.