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Running the Mile
Raising Kids with Different Personalities, Passions and Attitudes
By Charlene Torkelson
I become concerned when I speak to friends and family members who are my own age, and they talk about retiring early because they hate their jobs or ask themselves why they didn't try something – anything – instead of what they are doing. No matter what they have pursued in life, they all want something different than what it is they have. My banker brother wishes he would have been a gardener. My son's gymnastics coach wishes he would have done something with his mind and not his body. My brother-in-law wants to switch from the ministry to selling camping gear. Anther brother-in-law has been searching for the "perfect" career for over a year now. He was a car mechanic. And my flight attendant sister-in-law has her heart set on delivering UPS packages. No one is doing what they really want to do but rather did what they thought they should do.
So no matter how different my children are, I know it is my responsibility to encourage them to go for their dream – the thing that they just love to do and never grow tired of. What I'd really like for them is to say to me when they reach 50: "I love my life, and I love what I am doing." Then I have been a successful parent.
