Attending a recent high school concert opened my eyes to an issue (aka problem?), which my wife, another couple that attended, and I discussed at length, later. Will Political Correctness, the Self-Esteem Movement, and Diversity damage our kids and their futures?
I’ve gone from literally a 24/7 presence in Social Media to a semi-shutdown and withdrawal. Perhaps it wasn’t as hard as those people that go cold turkey with smoking cigarettes (I never smoked) but it was still a shock to the system. It also wasn’t an immediate “shutdown” though it accelerated pretty quickly. The reasons are significant, paramount, and revelatory – a nice run of adjectives, don’t you think? Are those adjectives? I never was particularly good at grammar. Auto-correct occasionally saves me from myself.
We all have our weak spots and change is one of mine. I know change is good – much of the time, but that doesn’t make the fact that I like things to be a certain way, in a certain place, at a certain time, certainly! I resist change. And, change fights me. We simply don’t like each other.
I am on the train, returning from visiting Syracuse University with my son. It wasn’t a traditional junior-year college visit because he had already been accepted under “early decision” and had already committed. Nonetheless, the experience was probably pretty similar to the college visits many kids and parents embark on. For my son and me, it was truly awesome. Yeah, I used the over-used “A” word, because it perfectly captures the spirit of the past 24 hours best.
How many times have you “gone for it” only to find it worked? Sometimes, in life, taking a risk is the BEST option and the BEST way to go. Are our kids willing to take a chance, in the right circumstance? My son took a HUGE risk – which I wrote about – and it paid off in wonderful and unexpected ways. THAT is our topic this Thursday, April 2 at 6:00 p.m. PT/9ET.
I’m a firm believer that if you don’t take risks, you will likely not get many rewards. Life is tough. I even think it’s tougher today – for our kids – than it was for me/us when we grew up. I’ve written about the importance of taking risks before, but I have a very personal story to share now.
The Empty-Nest Syndrome. We all hear about it but when our kids are young we believe it’s so far away. Trust me, it happens in the blink-of-an-eye. We are a few months away from our second son leaving for college. Are you prepared for the empty-nest? Will your kids even be able to leave home? More kids are returning home – after college – to live than ANY time in our history – I believe it’s over 80% for extended periods of time! This Thursday, March 26 at 6:00 p.m. PT/9:00 p.m. ET we will TAKE on the Empty-Nest for those in the throes of it and those that will face it – hopefully!
The big problem of our contemporary world seems to be stress. Yes, of course there are bigger “Macro” problems, but in my life most everyone I know seems overwhelmed and drops the “S” word regularly. Wasn’t technology supposed to alleviate stress? Why has this happened? In my usual fashion, I have meticulously researched this subject and here forth my conclusions.
