Things My Son Has Taught Me

Tonight I took Brady, my very active five year old boy, to the Rhode Island Philharmonic.  Brady has been semi obsessed with music since I took him to a high school band concert last Spring.  He is insistent on becoming a conductor.  On top of that his music teacher at school is a violinist in the Philharmonic and if you know Brady then you know how attached he can become to people; he really wanted to see her play!  

Here’s the thing.  Although I am a self proclaimed theatre nerd, although I think the arts are vital to our schools and communities, I’ve never really been that into classical music, and have never EVER understood why people dole out so much money just to watch musicians play a piece of classical music.  Now true, my favorite Pandora station does happen to be the John Williams station, but I’ve always used that as background music when I write or teach.  Tonight I understood why people go out to see an orchestra.  It was amazing, beautiful and at times educational.  And I never would have gone if Brady hadn’t shown such an interest in it.  It made me think of additional things I have learned and experienced because of my beautiful son.

In life you have to be patient…sometimes this is a harder lesson for myself than my five year old!

Parenting is the longest theatre improv game out there! 

Dishes can stay in the sink if it means a few more minutes of playtime.

Things are cool, but nothing replaces time. 

Trips to the grocery store can be fun!

Fruit snacks are really good!

A Friday night playdate with trains and cupcakes is so much more fun than a Friday night at a bar.

Saturday morning soccer games for children under six are funnier than Saturday Night Live!

Magic is real…don’t believe me?  Come to my house Christmas morning…or on Halloween…

A straw is not a straw.  It is a magic wand…or a conductor wand depending on the fad of the day.

Kids ARE sponges.  Remember that when talking.

Or driving…nothing worse than a five year old announcing to a group of people that “Mommy drives fast and got in trouble!” 

If you set high expectations, your child will rise to meet them. 

EVERYTHING is negotiable.  Dinner portions, bedtime, playtime.

Everything except how much you can love another person.

Parenting is not a job…it is not a career…it’s a whole lifestyle!

Every day I learn something new from my kid.  Sometimes it’s a fact he learned in school, most of the time it’s about the type of human being I want to be.  Creative, loving, full of wonderment, kind, funny and enthusiastic.