One reason I began to ease up on the demands I placed on my son was not only thinking about how stressful it was as a kid when so many demands were placed on me, but because when I examined the voice I was using to dish out all those demands, it wasn’t entirely my voice.
It was my father’s voice, my aunt’s voice, my stepmothers‘ voices—all the conditioning I had absorbed that tried to convince me what was necessary to have a life that was normal, proper, successful and safe from judgment.
But when I listened to my own voice, all it wanted was to understand what was important to my son, to connect with him as he is, and guide him through grace, love, acceptance, and flexibility.
-JLK
