Become a Passionate Parent

I know you've seen those parents who are yelling to their kids as they race down the track and thought, "I'm embarrassed for you..." Before we pass too much judgement let's look at a couple of things. First of all, I don't think there is anything wrong with having passion behind your kids activities. In fact, that is what I encourage. The important thing is to channel that passion into productive mentoring that will help your child reach their potential. There will be other postings on the blog that will address how we can effectively channel that passion as a parent, but for now let's agree that passion and excitement is a good thing. 

I sometimes wonder if some parents who want to pursue their own interest rather than giving time to their children rationalize their actions by telling themselves, "I don't want to be a crazy parent so I give my child space and they drive their own interest." While general principles of this thinking are good it can also be a cop-out of a disinterested parent. 

If we channel our passion into mentoring principles, children feel the energy you bring and will feed off that to push themselves beyond their comfort zone. If you become a lecturer and are constantly critical of their work you will contribute to their burn out. Mentoring principles put you in a position of creating learning environments, asking effective questions, and letting them discover the answer themselves. Becoming a passionate parent will not only help your child be more successful, it will also provide you with years of satisfaction.