Great stuff @kafkanarchy84! This is the kind of genuine article that just makes you feel something and think about your own values. What is really important?
Our lives go by so quickly, chasing that next accomplishment, or goal, or just literally surviving each day emotionallly or financially....that we overlook the obvious. The free gift that we all have, of the beauty that surrounds us, our freedom to think our own thoughts, speak our own words, and pick our own paths in life.
As a Dad of a 15 year old teenage girl, I have always seemed to be chasing the same goal, of trying to pass along that information that she will need in life. I do the best that I can. I think most times, I am my own worst critic.
Teaching her everything that she needs to know in life, while also letting her become her own person, with her own ideas, is the most challenging and rewarding thing that I have ever done.
You sound like a great dad, @jbcoin. I hear you. The emotional and financial survival can be a real bear. My son is five now, and I don't wanna miss these years when he's still a little guy, but a lot of times I don't feel I am doing a very good job, with all the stress and what not. I'm trying to be more grateful every day, though. Just having health and another day is a pretty big blessing. Gotta make the time, I suppose, right?
With kids, that is exactly right. TIME is the currency.
Your kids won't care how much money you make, they'll remember that time you took the time out of your day to make funny milk cartons with them...or play in a mud puddle for that matter haha.
People will see your title and say "OMG...who wants their kids to grow up Disobedient?" Teach your kids to think for themselves, reason out what is best for them, question the fucking teacher when they feel that a punishment or grade is unreasonable. Don't necessarily do what everyone else is doing, decide your own path.
From one of my favorite authors:
Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.
I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest.
Henry David Thoreau