Friday, July 14, 2006

giving your kids attention

Dust and I just watched the movie "WinterPassing". It was very melancholy. It was about a girl whose parents were both authors. They neglected her growing up because they were both doing their own thing. The girl was an actress who desparately wanted attention. She slept around looking for the love that her father never gave her. The story was about her coming to terms with all of that after her mother passed away.

The story got me thinking about how important it is to give your children attention. The girl in the story complained to her father about how he never attended any of the plays she was in. I thought about how my parents went to every concert or play that my brother and I were in. They were very supportive of everything that we were involved in.

I know also that there needs to be a balance between "making your kids your life" and having a life (job, hobby, etc.) of your own. I know some stay at home moms make their children their life and that can be both good and bad. What happens when the kids are grown? The key is finding that balance.

8 comments:

shakedust said...

Right now our balance is tipped more toward making NJ our life. Probably best at this stage, anyway, though. :)

T said...

I think I have more of a teeter totter going then a balance! I pay a lot of attention, then not as much then--here comes the attention again! :) :) Balance would be good, maybe in my own twisted way that is balance?

f o r r e s t said...

I heard that you are not suppose to give your kids any attention or acknowledge the fact that they exist.

T said...

forrest

You try that first and let me know how that works out for you!:) :)

f o r r e s t said...

What? Is that bad advice?

Achtung BB said...

You can take Forrest's advice, but you will probably get a psychopathic kid. Balance is the key. You can't take care of your kid if you can't take care of yourself

Dash said...

.. but if you get a psychopathic kid, BB get's to come over more often...

roamingwriter said...

yes, I remember my parents not being so into me and my stuff at school as a teen. I got used to that and now that I'm grown up I realize that they had more in their lives than just me and that's good. But friends whose parents came to every game turned out just as well as I did with only occasional appearances at extra curricular stuff. It was probably a hardship for them each time they came, so kudos to them for trying.