People will occasionally ask me if I have kids.
“…I have 300” I’ll sometimes jokingly say—referring to my 300ish martial arts students.
But, the more time I spend around parents—and get an *actual* look at parenting life—the more I realize how much of a joke it is to say that.
Parenting life is no joke. And I know all of the parents out there know it. But, to those who think they know it, but aren’t, let me just tell you—you don’t. There are as many different ways of parenting as there are parents.
And the thing that blows me away more than anything else is seeing parents devote everything they have (and more) to figuring out how to best educate/mold/raise their child to become a great person and community member. From the second they wake up (or maybe more properly put—get woken up) to the second they go to bed (if that ever even happens)—it’s all about that child or the children.
And what an incredible devotion it is, indeed.
This is all to say: shout out to the parents out there doing it. Devoting everything they have to the next generation even if it’s at the expense of themselves. Not all parents make the decision to parent—but if you did… and you are… thank you.
…It’s something I feel you might not hear often enough.