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It’s Okay for Your Kids to Be Proud of You

14 Oct

1006333_675391002488224_2147200493_nI have four children and tons of “adopted” children. As those of you with teenaged kids know, they bring all of their friends home and, if you are a cool parent, they all start calling you mom and dad. I don’t mind the pasture of children we have…I like kids, and these particular kids are actually proud of what I do for a living and I have to tell you, that is kind of cool.

Let me be clear here and say that it has not always been smooth sailing in terms of my kids’ acceptance of what I do. When they were young all they knew was that I was home all the time and that meant easy access. I had to train them to leave me be until 5 p.m. Now that they are older we still have some of those issues but it is easier for them to understand. Before they were, “yeah one of my parents is a writer, it’s okay” but now that they are older I have become somewhat of a novelty within their circles of friends. Their response to what I do is now quite hilarious, and it’s gotten me in trouble a few times. For instance, all of my boys (there are 3) have gone to school on career day and told their fellow classmates and horrified teachers that their parent “kills people for a living”. I have been to the office a few times over that.

Their reactions to my writing is definitely determined by their age.

Aaron (30) –  “My mom is a writer and I did my college dissertation on her first novel. The dissertation was about how twisted the human mind is.”

Ryan (25) – “Yeah my mom is a writer….so….

Jordan (20) – “My mom is a writer and it is the coolest thing every. She once killed off a guy who was bullying me in high school. Not actually “killed” but in her book “killed”.

Jessa (13) – “Whatever”

Although they have these reactions outwardly, each of them have come to me and told me how proud they are and the youngest, Jessa, is not writing her own “book”….how cool is that? So if you think that as a parent you are failing your kid by spending so much time at the typewriter remember that they are watching you at all times and that is a good thing. What my kids see is that I work twice as hard as anyone else and I stick it out to the end; those are important lessons for a kid. If you have children and they are proud of your writing count yourself lucky and then draw them into your world. What better role model could they have than a writer?

© The Writer’s Advice, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

 
 

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