I was listening to NPR yesterday while I was waiting for soccer practice to end. I know, it's not normally my radio station of choice, but occassionally they have something interesting on. Yesterday, they interviewed a professional rock climber, Chris Sharma.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15825820&ps=bb1
It was little more than a distraction from the boredom of sitting in a waiting car, until the reporter made this statement:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15825820&ps=bb1
It was little more than a distraction from the boredom of sitting in a waiting car, until the reporter made this statement:
Sharma . . . began climbing when he was 12 and left school at 16 to climb fulltime as a professional.
Wow. He must have very supportive parents. I know that Micah would love to quit school and become a professional animal caregiver. If he had his way, our house would be converted into a domestic zoo - with birds, lizards, wild cats, etc. roaming freely through the rooms. And he's definitely shown consistency and talent with animals. But I just can't see myself saying, "Go Micah! Pursue your dream. Forget about algebra and grammar - just love animals and be happy."
1 comment:
This is such a tough call. I am sure you have read your share of comments on-line about the lengths to which some parents go, the sacrifices they make for their children's passions. For me, the issue is not "will the neighbors think we are crazy if we build a reptile house in the back yard?" -- they know the Origami kid, they already think we are nuts. Instead, I worry about what sort of message we would be sending to the boys by going to such lengths. Will they have unreasonable expectations of others, or of life in general, if we bend over backwards to accommodate their outside-the-box ideas?
Maybe this would be a simpler question for me if I did not live with someone who has thousands of brilliant ideas and interests each day, and who is unable to follow through on any of them.
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