We could be heroes

By Anne-Marie

During a recent interview of teenage volunteers, I asked them who their heroes were. I expected them to name political leaders, authors, scientists, or maybe a few fictional characters. Instead, the overwhelming majority of them said, "My parents."

They proceeded to give examples of how their parents helped with homework after a long day at their jobs, or picked them up late at night when their car broke down.

Later that night, I mentioned it to my husband. He told me about a study that showed kids who did well in school named their parents as their heroes. (The teens I interviewed were all honor students in advanced placement classes.) The kids who were average or poor students mentioned entertainers or sport figures.

If someone had asked me who were my heroes when I was a teenager, I would have said Joan of Arc and Kurt Vonnegut. But my parents? No way.

Unlike these teens, my parents were hands off when it came to school. I was expected to study and do homework on my own. However, they did set a good example for my sister and me. They stressed the importance of being polite, showing respect to your elders, the value of books, art, culture and learning, an appreciation for good food, respecting family traditions, and donating to charitable causes.

Back then I expected heroes to be larger than life. Now I realize that true heroes are just everyday folk doing what is important, whether helping their kids study or checking on an elderly neighbor during a power outage. It is the little things that count.

So how do I become a hero to Nathan and Lucie? By making them my top priority, supporting their interests, helping them in school, and being a role model.

How can you be a hero to your kids?

Comments

[Gary]

I'd love to be my child's hero, not for my ego, but because I would love for him to do well in school.
He tested into the gifted program, (130 IQ) and he is incredibly creative, but he says that he hates to read, although he reads comic books and game manuals veraciously, and he says he hates to write, although he tells stories and possible scenarios with the best. I think it’s the physical act of writing that he finds difficult. He also takes great pride in making A's, but he doesn't want to work for them, and for the past two years he hasn't had to.I'm pretty sure things will get a lot tougher this year,(3rd grade.)
So if I could be a hero to my child it would be by showing him that hard work pays off. The problem with that is that my wife already shows him that, and what he sees is that she is not home as much as he would like. So we do our best and set the kind of example that your parents set, or try to. We show him our love for words and science and art and all things good. But in the end he will choose his hero's and his work habbits and his future by himself.
My only hope is: he chooses mac and cheese now while we choose truffled potatoes he may grow out of that and into a lover of words and science and art and all things good.

[Joye]

Wow, that was a great entry. Kudos to you. I think we can all be heroes to our kids by building their confidence levels, always being there for them, and showing them that they can do anything they want to do.