Andrew Chamberlain

For all those people who are caught in the snare of the work / life / kids balance( or imbalance) can I suggest you take 6 minutes out to listen to Lucy Kellaway’s podcast on the subject of working parents and wayward kids. It’s required listening.
I think Lucy’s podcast touches on a truth that busy parents have to grasp, and grasp quickly. This truth is all about charting a course between two pieces of wisdom, and they should be pretty obvious. First, if you shirk your responsibilities as a parent then the kids will suffer. Mums and dads, especially dads really need to get this, there’s no short cuts, there’s no easy way to do it, you need to get stuck in and engage with the kids. If you are not relating to them it will hurt them. That’s the way it is. Going out with your mates is no excuse, going down the pub is no excuse, staying late at work (Lucy!) is no excuse.

Some people get this, but don’t get the second truth, and that’s this: you think parenting is all lovely and wonderful all the time? No of course you don’t but you may think you should feel like, if you’re getting it right, it should be lovely and wornderful all the time, the media tell you it, Hollywood tells you it. So is this right or wrong? WRONG! WRONG WRONG WRONG! Here’s the truth - bringing up kids, successfully, wonderfully, and brilliantly is still hard work, sometimes its boring, messy, frustrating, exasperating. Sometimes you’d rather be doing anything else but dealing with them. Is it wrong to admit this? No! Does it mean you don’t love your kids? No! Loving them is realising that this is a hard business, parenting, and still getting in there and doing it.  Thats the deal.

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