As I recently saw the hilarious nervous reaction of U.S. gymnast Ali Raisman’s parents as she competed in the gymnastics competition, I found myself thinking that we parents are all the same.
No, I’m not the parent of an Olympian, but I do feel what I do on a daily basis is pretty Herculean. Finding the lost swimsuit, overdue library book, or lost tooth — in the nick of time — is, after all, fairly amazing stuff.
When I look at what I and other mothers do, day in and day out, I can see the building of an athlete, but not in the typical every-four-year sense. I have felt that same parental fear and sideline encouragement, not at a gymnastics meet but in their moral decisions or difficult life experiences.
For example, when they’ve needed self-control rather than engage in a school fight, or were betrayed by a friend and had to work through the painful repairing process; or when I breathed deeply and desperately for my baby as each contraction made the cord dangerously block his air supply. That nervous, “Come on, Ali—catch it, CATCH IT” was true for me too. To read more of this story, click here.
