In his induction speech for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984, Harmon Killebrew told the story of a time he was playing in the front yard with his father and his brother. His mom came out to tell them it was time for dinner and admonished them for tearing up the grass. “We’re not raising grass,” his father replied. “We’re raising boys.”
Success as a parent is not defined by having a car with spotless back seats. It’s not having a perfectly decorated house filled with fragile things that never get broken. A kid’s room should look like it was played in. A home should feel lived in. We should see their fingerprints everywhere—literally and figuratively.
Is your job really to raise a kid who never talks back? Who walks in lockstep or tiptoes through life? Or is it to raise a kid with their own opinions and their own dreams, with the confidence to articulate them and the ability to bring them to life? The yard is there to be played in. The bike is made to be ridden, not kept in the garage in pristine condition. Your floors will be scratched. Food will be spilled. Messes will accumulate. Noises will be made.
Good. We’re not trying to keep a spotless, quiet house. We’re raising healthy, well-adjusted, happy children.