As I brought my smiling, laughing daughter tonight to her Beavers meeting, I was looking at her cute little face and came to an important epiphany. I've been unemployed since July and feeling not as valued as I used to. Reflecting on these two matters, I realized I am not really unemployed at all!
I have the most important and one of the most satisfying jobs in the world. Sometimes it's also the most challenging and frustrating job. I'm a parent and it's a job that I can't lose. It's highly unlikely I'll ever be fired from this job, there are no annual performance reviews and there's always enough work without lay-offs. I didn't even have to compete with other candidates in gruelling interviews.
How much is a child's laughter, smile or sense of great accomplishment worth? Is it worth more than a plaque or a bonus? What value can you place on raising a caring, kind, empathetic child who does you proud when he/she opens a door for an elderly person? These are priceless things, moments that some may never experience and others envy more than a lucrative job.
The fate of humanity depends on the good citizenship of every adult raised and their personal achievements and contributions. We must take our roles as parents seriously for they are not just our progeny, but members of a potentially great society and culture. There are other contributions to children's values and character such as peers, teachers and genetics but the greatest influence remains their parents. We can either raise another Einstein, Rembrandt, Shakespeare or another Manson, Dalmer or Hitler. We can either nurture, love and protect or traumatize and leave scars that produce pain and suffering not just on our adult child but on those into whose lives they become entangled.
What's the second most important job in the world? Teachers and the teacher's teachers; those in the pedagogical field. They spend nearly as much time with our children as we do. They also take on the responsibility of socializing them and healing their wounds. They are partners in parenting and thus also have a great responsibility. They not only instil character and values but impart useful knowledge. From carpentry and welding to reading, writing, mathematics art and music. It's the role of teachers colleges and pedagogical academia to refine and improve the methodology employed by the teaching profession; a very honourable and old profession.
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