When I became a father, the stakes immediately rose – higher highs, lower lows, and a load-up of pressure I simply didn’t see coming. Raising happy, little people is the biggest job I’ll ever have.
While being a dad is an immense, life-defining opportunity, it also comes with a huge weight. I think I’ve sometimes made the error of trying to shoulder too much of this. While stepping-up to life’s main game might be admirable, I’m gradually learning that parenting is also a game of crowd-sourcing and crowd control.
“Father figures”, role models and inspiration come at our kids from every direction, every day. Siblings, mates, grandparents, teachers, the media and even what’s pumping out of your speakers at home. In many ways, our role as dads is to act as the bouncer for their brain, deciding who and what gets inside their heads.
On Nick Cave’s blog The Red Hand Files, a 10-year old fan recently asked him how having cool, interesting and beautiful music in his life will affect him. Nick responded that the “secret knowledge” passed on by this music will truly change his life:
“It is a strength that will inspire you to do wondrous things – like write stories, or draw pictures, or build rockets that fly to Mars. It will give you the courage to take on anything that the world might put in front of you. It’s a wild power that can be of untold value to the world”.
Check out the full post here.
Along with you and your immediate crew, the village will raise your child, so let your kids’ minds grow in a good, inspiring virtual village. And teach your kids to dig rock ‘n’ roll.
Nick Cave, before he received the secret knowledge. Sourced from The Red Right Hand Files.