Wanted: PARENTS

Another good read that I bumped upon while surfing is the best presentation on the search of a "parent". If it had been advertised this way, I don't believe any of my league would have applied for the most thankless "job" as described.


POSITION :
Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma
Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa, Pop

JOB DESCRIPTION :

• Long term, team players needed, for challenging, permanent work in an often chaotic environment.
• Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.
• Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities!
• Travel expenses not reimbursed.
• Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES :

• The rest of your life.
• Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs money.
• Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.
• Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 100 kph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.
• Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers.
• Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects.
• Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.
• Must be a willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next.
• Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices.
• Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
• Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.
• Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :

• None.
• Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :

• None required unfortunately.
• On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION :

• Get this! You pay them!
• Offering frequent raises and bonuses.
• A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent.
• When you die, you give them whatever is left.
• The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS :

While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love, and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.

** AND A FOOTNOTE: THERE IS NO RETIREMENT -- EVER!!! **


The above details could be a little head shaking. But then again, with the kind of family that I have, much with my wife as my lifetime partner, scrolling on the details of the requirements and expectations to get the job can easily be confirmed as either "done", or "in process". Living with the fact that I have a good partner raising our family, being inspired would top the hardships and obstacles, if we even have to look back at the challenges of parenting that way.

And how can I be so blind and hypocrite not to appreciate how my very own mother raised me? There may not be applicable parenting methods as to how Mommy had reared me when I was young, and I submit that I have to adjust according to the prevailing flow now. But the basic laws and principles must still be the same. So reference wise, I was not zero-based at all.

Of course there may never be perfect parents in the sense that they can not evaluate their own performance and give themselves a good grade. That would be playing bias. (But if that may give some their breather, well, heck why not?). They can only rate their parenting when they can at least get a sounding night sleep - because the failure or success of each child can not even be entirely defined as the reflection of parenting as more external factors would be contributory to what their children shall become. Between trust and confidence, the former should be the product of good guidance, while the latter manifests an applied one. It is crystal clear that being a parent is but a role which is entirely different from the person, i.e.: "Let's talk man to man, not father to son.". There are situations which are best dealt being a parent, or would work better the other way. But just by the fact that you have a great parenting reference would boost your confidence to rear the correct way. And then it is easier to at least foresee things with a brighter perspective.


To my wife, all I can say is: "Thank you for standing by your spoiled brat hubby. Rest assured, I may be as what I am, but I have no any plan to be a failure in our journey."

To my Mom: "I thank you for being happy of what I am. It is you who made me take upon life a lot easier. I shall always be grateful, Ma. I love you."

And to our three well baked angels: "You are our strength. Keep inspiring us..!"