Raised Right

Over the past two nights, I have been engrossed in the new PBS documentary Country Boys, and am preparing to watch the concluding episode tonight. As I've been watching this unbelievably fascinating program, I keep thinking how fortunate I was to have parents that were (somewhat) normal and were always supportive of whatever endeavor I chose to pursue — even though they were less than thrilled at the bones I smashed on a skateboard or with the dirtbags I cavorted with in filthy rock clubs (or the construction equipment I copped to driving in the middle of the night a few posts ago...oops).

Even more importantly, as I'm seeing the stories of Cody and Chris (the two main subjects of the documentary), and the hardships they face with zero help, love and support from their families, I'm struck by how fortunate Connor is to have an overwhelmingly large support group behind him, making sure he has the tools necessary to do whatever makes him happy.

Even if I continually pushed Connor down a lot, while pointing and laughing, or if I took his favorite toys and said to him, "You like this a lot, don't ya?" and then smashed it, I'd be a better parent than the people that gave birth to Cody and Chris. (Cody's parents are dead and Chris' might as well be.)

So, even though I'm realizing how "stellar" some parents can be — and it's really depressing — I think I can lower the bar on my parental skills a bit and Connor would still turn out okay.

Yeah, I think I'll start smoking in the car with the windows up.