Recent topics revolve around parents and baseball.
I have lots of experience with parents. Seen the Good, the Bad and the downright Ugly.
Sometimes there are comparisons between the old days and now. When I was a young kid, my parents didn't even know who the coaches were. I doubt if they ever said a word to any coach I ever had. It seemed like most other parents of my teammates were about the same.
Me on the other hand, I was a trouble maker. Hated authority, knew it all, big mouth. Looking back I'm sure coaches just put up with me because I had some talent. I'm sure they didn't like having me around. I was the coaches true definition of a nightmare.
It took a long time for me to figure things out. Later i used what I learned to teach my own sons how they should act. Some of that rubbed off and some didn't. I heard no bitc*ing about coaches, teammates or teachers. Told the kids early on, right or wrong, I will always be on the side of the coach. Some of that worked out well, some not so well.
My point in all of this. Often we tend to blame the parents for everything. Truth is, there will always be some kids that screw up. It's not always the parents fault. I've seen some bad kids who had good parents... And I've seen some great kids who belong to some real Ugly parents. Of course, more often I've seen great kids with great parents.
Dealing with thousands of parents over the years, I can honestly say that vast majority are great. It's just that the bad ones stand out so much it gives the whole parenthood thing a bad name.
One last thing... I think being a parent is one of the hardest things to master. You just don't get a lot of practice before being one. Then you think you're great at it, only to later realize how many things you could have done differently. My only suggestion to a new parent would be... Do it your way and hope for the best.
FWIW, some of the very best kids/people/parents/families I've ever known suffered through hard times financially. Sometimes it makes you wonder about that old saying... For every negative there is a positive. Or something like that.
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