Thursday, July 24, 2014
Featured guests:
Jon Kraft and Girish Venkat of Thrively.com.
Pastor Drew Sams for “Spiritual Talk.”
Dr. Jennifer Weberman (The Parenting Playground) for “Therapy Talk.”
Today’s radio show is inspired by this week’s column, There’s No Such Things as Unconditional Love and special guests representing the new website to find your kid’s passions and strengths, Thrively.com.
All parents hope to nurture the talents of their children, but usually they hope it’s a talent they share or one they’d always dreamed of for themselves. This is often a first test for a parent. It sure was for me. I expected that with two boys, I’d be coaching them in all the intricacies of every sport I loved. Instead, with my oldest, I was left coaching the baseball team after he quit it.
Fortunately, I began supporting their passions, and it provided equal joy for me, less stress for them, and ultimately made for a happier home. My oldest pursued music, specifically rock ‘n’ roll, with a vengeance upon getting a $99 electric guitar as a birthday present.
Sometimes, life brings us a lot of lessons at once. In my family, we’ve gotten our share of them recently and they’ve added dimension to our lives and allowed us to each grow in different ways, without necessarily providing a neat and regular narrative for my column. That hasn’t stopped me yet and I think you’ll find they all coalesce into something meaningful called finding your passion.
Let’s begin with my older son growing as a rock ‘n’ roller, a talented drummer, guitarist, and vocalist. His passion carried over to an extraordinary opportunity of a lifetime when he got to jam with his idol, Chris Cornell (Soundgarden and Audioslave) at The Roxy Theatre, on Sunset Blvd., in Hollywood. The full story and video are here (http://brucesallan.com/index.php/other/203-my-sons-rock-n-roll-dream-came-true), but suffice it to say, I became a sort of “stage dad” along the way.
