Whether by accident, coincidence or pure harmony, I recently had an intersection of parenting I wanted to share.

Luke’s teacher recommended and gave out an excerpt from this book:

The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness: Five Steps to Help Kids Create and Sustain Lifelong Joy

At the same time a parent in Luke’s classroom recommended this documentary:

What dawned on me is that these two items show the problem and the solution. The problem (with raising boys at least) is that the whole male dominated, angrier, bigger, better, stronger, more masculine world that we have cultivated right here in the United States is very broken. You can watch the documentary for more specifics, but in essence it paints a bleak picture of what it means to be growing up in this country as a male these days…

Unless…

You work a solution, such as the one presented in the book listed above. A book that simply states that in order to raise healthy, happy children into healthy happy adults all you have to do is keep the magic of childhood alive. Allow your children to be exactly what they are and to love, love, love them unconditionally.

The book discusses the concept of “flow” or “connectedness” described as being “the first priority at home or at school ought to be to create a connected atmosphere in which the child feels cared for, welcomed and treated fairly“

Sounds simple, but it isn’t always the case as life is filled with moments that get in the way of staying “connected”. Thus the job of the parent, teacher, coach, care giver is to stay consistent, even, fair and imbued with unconditional love, that everlasting love.