Nov. 10

There is something uniquely grueling about parenting small children.  Someone is always making noise; someone is always demanding, either actively or passively, your attention.  You are hardly ever   able to be, simply, yourself, because you are so frequently having to be parent- your voice and presence targeted, crafted, designed to manipulate or soothe the small.

I never realized how much of my parents' self-presentation was a front.

Or was it?  Sometimes I think spending so much time in the theater of teaching, pre-kids, inclined me toward performing parenthood in the same way that successful teachers are, essentially, great actors.  The best teachers (and actors) mix authenticity into their theater, and maybe, so too, do the best parents.

I am tired.  There is a soupcon of authenticity for you.