Nice anecdote. By real world I mean any useful direction. The fact that random person gets lucky with some random thing doesn't impress me. People win the lottery, that doesn't make lottery playing a sound investment strategy. I encourage my son's creativity, but when it prevents him from paying attention to reality I step in because he is a real person not some idealized, imaginary, cross you fingers and hope for success story. He shows a knack for art, story creation, and he has good comedic timing. I plan to help him become the best person he can be. Right now he spends a lot of time feeling inadequete because he struggles with reading, writing, and focusing. He is weaker than his sister, who is two years younger than him. He's on an IEP (Individualized Education Program) and is seriously in danger of being held back again in school, so no, I'm not going to just hippy out and let the pieces fall where they may.
The reality is that when you are a father you have to make the bummer choices and discipline your kid and that can suck, believe me. I would much rather just fuck off and play video games with him, which I do often when we find the time. It has been great seeing my discipline pay off in real world gains that make us both happy. Like when he takes out the garbage and can carry the bag all the way to the bin and toss it in without so much as a grunt. Or when he reads for a half hour without working himself into a crying jag.
It is easy to mischaracterize my position as one of the overbearing, stiflingly ridgid, overcontrolling parent, because maybe you watch too much oxygen network or have seen too many after school specials. That isn't the case. He digs me and we have fun together. I intersected his life when he was 8 and he is happier now and more successful. I made this post just to figure out how to deal with this weird turn of events where he wants to start casting spells and passing them out to his friends.
The reality is that when you are a father you have to make the bummer choices and discipline your kid and that can suck, believe me. I would much rather just fuck off and play video games with him, which I do often when we find the time. It has been great seeing my discipline pay off in real world gains that make us both happy. Like when he takes out the garbage and can carry the bag all the way to the bin and toss it in without so much as a grunt. Or when he reads for a half hour without working himself into a crying jag.
It is easy to mischaracterize my position as one of the overbearing, stiflingly ridgid, overcontrolling parent, because maybe you watch too much oxygen network or have seen too many after school specials. That isn't the case. He digs me and we have fun together. I intersected his life when he was 8 and he is happier now and more successful. I made this post just to figure out how to deal with this weird turn of events where he wants to start casting spells and passing them out to his friends.
