Daily Mood Quotes - October 20, 2011

 

Daily Mood Quotes

Day 170 – October 20, 2011

Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.

~Colin Powell

I have a lot of respect for Colin Powell, I do not know him personally but his leadership skills have been demonstrated globally and he leads with integrity, respect and confidence. I agree with his quote. The minute, the second “soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you cease to be leader.” However, leadership isn't just for the military. Everyone has in some way, shape or form been a leader at one time in their life. Even children, in as simple of a setting as a elementary school classroom. I have been a parent for 26 years, and as much as we may try to deny it, parents are leaders everyday...

Recently, I was asked if I had any regrets being a stay-at-home mom for so many years, and without hesitation my response was a resounding, “no.” To push the envelope a little bit, she said to me, “but you could have had a great career, been respected, been rich, been a name? I look at her and said, “I have a great career, I'm a mom, I am respected, have you met my children?, I am rich, not with money, but with love and great relationships with my children, I don't have to guess, their favorite color, their favorite meal, their favorite book or television program...I know. I don't have to push them to talk, they come to me, and as far as being a name, what greater name is there in the world, than “mom or dad?”

In the movie Mr. Mom, Jack Butler (played by Michael Keaton), a laid-off (fired) automotive worker and his wife Caroline (Teri Garr), had an argument about his experience being a full-time stay-at-home dad for the first time, it went like this;

Jack Butler: My brain is like oatmeal. I yelled at Kenny today for coloring outside the lines! Megan and I are starting to watch the same TV shows, and I'm liking them! I'm losing it.

Caroline: Honey, I know what you're talking about. I've been there myself, alright?

Jack Butler: Well, if you're so unhappy, why don't you say something about it?

Caroline: Because I wasn't unhappy! Look, maybe I was a little confused, maybe I was a little frustrated, but I knew what I was doing was important, because it means something to raise human beings. What saw me through was pride.

Caroline: I've pride in this house, I've pride with my kids, and I've pride being Mrs. Jack Butler!

Well, I'm not Mrs. Jack Butler, but the pride is the same. I have sacrificed many jobs and what would have been a great career because my children were my first priority. Yes, times have been hard, and instead of complaining about it, I used it as a teaching tool for handling money, following budgets, and teaching what the differences are between the “wants” and the “needs.” When ask why I choose parenting over a career, the answer was simple, you have a small amount of time to make a positive impact, be a positive influence, teach what is right and what is wrong, in your children's lives, and when that time is past, you can never get it back. Then peer pressure, television role models (Lindsay Lohan), and magazine models take over.

In less than a year I will graduate with a Master's Degree and in the last nearly six years, my children have watched me grow, change and demonstrate the benefits of a higher education. They have college on their radar. Parenting never ends, just the amount of time you spend doing the nuts and bolts of it. The maintenance is ongoing. I don't know if my education will win me a “prestigious” job after all of my children on their own, but as I look at my children and talk with them I realize that being a stay-at-home mom is a very prestigious job to start with. It was a good thing, no, it is a great thing.

Albert Schweitzer said it best, “Example is leadership.”

What example will you set today?

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Thank you for reading.

Daily Mood Quote - June 8, 2011

Daily Mood Quote

Day 35 – June 8, 2011

“To be in your children's memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today”

~Anonymous

My apologies for being late today, but as you have probably already figured out, my tardiness is due to my responsibilities as a parent. Actually, I don't consider attending an award ceremony parental responsibilities. To me, I was privileged to share in my child's success today. We now have an Academic Excellence Award to hang on the wall. Well done!

When I became a parent 26 years ago, all of the books I read on parenting may have provided me with information on how to be a parent, but never prepared me for all the physical, emotional, mental and financial sacrifices, that being a parent requires. There is a big difference between having children and being a parent. In today's fast paced world, the lines and messages can be blurred. It is all too easy to substitute stuff for time and television, or internet, for conversation. I also realize that what is best for one family, may not be best for another. Every family's rules and ways are different. As to my husband and I, we chose parenting, because for us it is about the next generation being better prepared, more informed and a bit smarter about the world than we were growing up. Sounds like a no-brainer, but it requires a lot of work and all to often, some very tough choices. In order to teach them to be better prepared, everyday we ourselves have to continue to learn. The world is changing fast and we, like our children, need to be adaptable.

I remember one job where my employer threatened me with my job, because I had a sick child and needed to go home. I quit my job. Yes, we needed the money, but my child needed me more. No one should ever have to be put in a position to choose between job and family, yet it happens all the time. In the movie Cheaper By The Dozen, Tom (played by Steve Martin) resigned from his dream job as a head football coach for his Alma Mater, because the time away doing his job, meant taking time from his children. His wife played by Bonnie Hunt (Kate) realized that being a parent meant more to her than appearing on the Oprah Winfrey Show. They changed their priorities of chasing dream jobs, to make sure they were doing the right thing for their children.

For me, Jacqueline Kennedy said it most eloquently, “If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much.

What memories will you make today?

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quotes

Thank you for reading