Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Thoughts on parenting (by a nonparent)

With the birth of his son whom he named after himself (kaloka!), my youngest brother is now a father. Here are three things I want to tell him about kids and parenting:

1. Kids don’t come with a manual. A handbook or anything that would tell the parents the features of a kid model, including how it is better than, similar to, or different from the other models would certainly be a great help. But kids are not — and will never be — like the craze gadgets we splurge our budgets on. With them, we grope around trial-and-error; and where they are concerned, we falter even in the company of the tried and tested.

2. When it comes to parenting, the saying “the heat that hardens the egg melts the butter” becomes so true. Yup! Not only do kids refuse to carry with them that thing parents need the most — handbook on the proper way to “operate” them — but they also make their parents’ work extra-difficult by bringing with them their built-in idiosyncrasies which are the parents’ task to discover and to learn to deal with. Thus, parenting will never be a fit-all commodity; what worked for one kid may not work for another.

3. Good luck! You can do it. Hehehe


//P.S. Born on the fourth of July this year, Lucky Ryan Benosa, Jr. (or II), is the newest addition to our growing family. This guy is quite powerful; he has made every member of the family travel to Mallig, Isabela and back home many times just to have a peek on him. Hay! (We now have lots of pics of him, but they are for private viewing only. The kid is not yet one year old; he can't yet tell me if he'd allow me to post his pic here. Maybe next year. Hehe)

I don't know what you'd call it, but he also made my brother and Sheryll, as well as Tatang (sige na nga, pati ako) very inggit! Hahaha!

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