No, this is not a column about race. The other N-word is nepotism. It often has a negative connotation but I actually have been re-thinking the word; how nepotism is practiced and felt today, and how I’m going to take this idea and expand it into helicopter parenting. A reach? But, of course!
Today’s economy and job market is tougher than at any time in my life. I sincerely believe that my boys have a harder road ahead of them than I did. That is a new phenomenon for parents. Parents always expected their kids to do better than they did. Now, many parents simply hope their kids do as well. I will be thrilled if my boys have half the luck and success I was blessed to have, as well as the financial comforts that all provided.
So, how does this relate to nepotism? Simply, you gotta do what you gotta do. Hmm, wasn’t there a “Rug Rats” expression that went something like, “A baby’s got to do what a baby’s got to do!” Today, that may include all kinds of persistence, creativity, and yes using whatever connections you may have, including mom and dad or any relative.
Why the rub? If it’s good enough for William Shatner’s daughter (see recent “Priceline” commercials), why isn’t it good enough for your kids?
Let’s take this into the realm of helicopter parents since we all love those overbearing dads and moms. No, I don’t think mom or dad should push their connections on their kids, but offering them up is not bad form. In fact, offering them up is simply helping your kids in a mighty tough environment. Pushing your ideas or friends on them is where it goes too far. It’s like the old saying that I’ve corrupted, “You can lead a horse to water, but he’ll drink it when he’s thirsty enough.”
So Dad and Mom — go ahead and offer up your connections to your kids. They’ll take advantage of them when they’re ready. Don’t think you’re enabling them in the bad sense of that word. Instead, recognize everyone can use a hand. What’s wrong if that hand comes from family? Absolutely nothing!
The extension of this idea is how to instill the two P’s into your children’s mindset. Passion and persistence are necessary skills that many in this entitled generation don’t get. The irony is that when they need it most – today – it’s being taken from them by the afore-mentioned helicopter parents that teach their kids dependence rather than independence, and the government which thrives on creating dependence – these days – more than ever before.
The whole notion of “taking a handout” used to be shameful. Now, it seems to be not only a rite of passage but something many view as “their due.” All it dues is teach “them” to be lazy and not DO for themselves!
Passion may be easy to learn if there is something you or your kids are passionate about. But, without persistence, passion is as useful as food stamps. It takes care of an immediate need but it won’t sustain itself and it will create laziness and lack of initiative.
Persistence is the ingredient to make the passion-stew simmer and marinate. To beat this analogy to death, it is what makes it all taste so sweet. You take your passion and mix it with persistence and you get an entire self-sustaining meal and you’ve made it yourself. Nothing tastes better. Nothing is sweeter than making something happen all by your lonesome!
The hardest part of persistence is to learn NOT to take rejection personally. To let it slide off your back and keep on going. Persistence is about the willingness to keep on going in spite of repeated apparent setbacks. The reason I choose the word “apparent” is the same reason I say not to take things personally. Too often we do both. A rejection, on the surface, may seem personal when more often than not; it has nothing to do with you or your passionate project/work.
A rejection can be caused due to factors in which you simply have no knowledge. Realizing that it is not all about you is the first step in pushing ahead. What happens if the first ten efforts you make result in “rejection?” Nothing, if the eleventh results in success!
My careers were built around this fact. Showbiz is all about constant and regular rejection. If I’d allowed rejection to define my showbiz career, I’d be serving burgers. The same is true for my work in my second career of writing and radio – two fields that were dying on the vine, yet I didn’t give up.
So, teach your children well to not take things personally, to find their passion, and to pursue it with passion. They might surprise you and become more successful than you ever dreamed!
