The Life of Passion

 Carl Jung said, "The greatest harm to a child is the unlived life of the parent."  As our family has grown older, and the kids no longer require constant diaper changes and late night feedings - my role as a parent is in a near-constant state of change.  It is been a hard transition - to become a parent of older children.  But it is amazing to be their dad.  We can do so much more stuff together  - like take road trips, hike bigger mountains, and see movies that do not include talking, animated animals.  I love it..

But now that the kids are old enough to see me in a more  older honest light - it has helped me understand my responsibility to model a life of passion.  So, I find that these days while still trying to find adventures for all of us, I am simultaneously attempting to pursue my passions, and explain to my children why I love what I do.  So over the past several months, I have traveled to more places (usually with the whole family - which is my favorite way), read so many more books, run more races, played more music, created better history lessons, made more t-shirts, committed more completely to spirit week costumes at school (pics below), and just....well....pursued more passions. 

Jessica also pursues her passions - from a new counseling job at the high school, to her Noonday program, to Hello Little Bungalow - she remains engaged.  And the kids very much see her as a passionate artist/crafter who loves to create.  But as much energy as we are spending on our passionate pursuits -  we have spent as much energy encouraging the kids to find their own passions.

I am lucky that I had parents who supported all of my passions.  When I was 14, they helped me load all of my amplifiers and guitars into the station wagon, to drive me to the indoor skatepark (Eastern Vert)so that I could play my first punk rock show in the center of a halfpipe.  (That is how you support your kid's passion....)  

I now find that as each of my kids develop their own passions (that are unique, and sometimes different than my own) - I am trying to pay it forward, by both modeling a life of passion..and being their biggest fan.