EVERYTHING
FOR YOUR FAMILY
Editor's Note
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Boys skit about like hummingbirds, shuffling, looking everywhere at once, seemingly in their own world and not paying too much attention. Don’t be fooled by mannerisms. When they seem least likely to be listening, they are. At home, and on the Little League field, I try to frame a discussion, or a point, by the use of a particularly good spin on words. It grabs young boys’ attention, especially if you follow with, “Now, what does that mean?” Boys love a challenge, and I have 3 of them. Recently, for example, I refined the importance of getting and keeping the ball in your glove before making a throw. I told my Little League fall ball team to remember this John Wooden classic: “Be quick; don’t hurry.” Our motto for this short season is: “You may want to work on 12 things, you may want to work on 1 thing, but you have to work on something so that at the end of the season, you can do anything.” A quaint book of sayings matched with photographs has just been published. “The Wonder of Boys: The world through a boy’s eyes,” is compiled by Karen Henrich (Cumberland House, 2007). She dedicates the book to her 3 boys. And, since I’m so enamored by photographs and the written word, this is the kind of breezy book that catches my eye. On a 2-page spread, a boy is gently holding a frog and the quote begins: “A boy is truth with dirt on its face…” So true: I still have to scrub the knees of one of my twins, at least on occasion. It’s the only way to get them clean, and it’s a great time to communicate. Some of the quotes really get a dad thinking. Writing this column the morning after attending a fundraiser for a nonprofit (Anaheim-based Canyon Acres Children and Family Services takes in the most severely abused children), one of the pages hit me in the gut: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men (Frederick Douglass).” My wife and I have some time left before the 3 boys go out on their own. But there never is enough time – to teach, to show by example. In Henrich’s book, you’ll be reminded that Peter Pan never wanted to grow up. But in fact, all children do. And how we put together our words today is as important as what we feed them, how we school them and in what manner we coach them. On those nights when I still tiptoe into their rooms to look at them, and at those times when I want to remind them that their bad days are better than most of the world’s, I think of this: “If you aren’t grateful for what you have, you won’t be joyful for what you’ve been given.” After you are certain what that means to you, ask them what it means to them. Craig Reem Executive Editor |
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