Being a dad also means dealing with a lot of mundane little issues. Things like making sure your kids do their homework.
To be honest—I’m not big on homework myself. I was terrible at school. I don’t think school is a great preparation for life.
But I do strive to look at mundane little issues and ask: What’s an important life lesson that’s contained in here? What’s something meaningful that I can pass on to my sons?
Recently, my eldest son kept saying he’ll do his homework later. Inevitably, the day turned into night, with not enough time left to actually do the homework.
Not only did it mean he wouldn’t be able to present his homework, it also affected his little brother and me, because we didn’t get to spend some quality time playing together.
My eldest son very much comes after me. When he realizes that he failed at something, he can be very hard on himself.
On the one hand, I want him to set high standards for himself and strive to live up to them. On the other hand, I don’t want him to beat himself up. I want him to learn the lesson and use it to become a better version of himself. I want him to cherish his wins and learn from his mistakes.
In this episode, I’ll share
Finding the right balance between self-discipline and self-compassion is a challenge I’ve been grappling with myself, so I’m not surprised to see this in my son. Hopefully, he’ll learn this much earlier than I did.
As always, I’d love to hear from you. Drop a comment here https://steliefti.com/fatherhood-odyssey-homework-struggles/
I've now been studying Internal Family Systems (IFS) for a long time, and it's taught me so much about myself that I decided to...
I’ve been pondering a story for the last couple of days that I want to share with you. It’s a story I first heard...
This is part of a conversation we've had in August of 2020, where we discussed the courage it takes to share your weaknesses. Many...
