Parenting Beanstalk

You heard it here first: CTC will soon be launching a podcast! In a way--yes, cliche I know, who doesn’t have a podcast nowadays--but we are excited to offer simple, quick tips for parents on a variety of topics from the local experts that are also our community partners. But this post isn't really about the podcast...stay with me.

Currently we are in the planning and soon-to-be producing phase and I was chatting with my son about how we need to come up with a name. My son suggested, “name it Parenting Beanstalk.” I asked him how he came up with that title and he replied, “Because you have to do lots of stuff.” 

I asked, “Is the beanstalk a symbol to show growth?'' and he explained, “Yeah, because it just keeps going.” Then he asked me about how to make money off the podcast, and how we should have merchandise, and I asked him how he even knew what “merch” was…and that is a whole other story entirely. 

But I felt it was interesting that he chose that title, and that his assessment was “parenting is a big job that just keeps growing.”  Wow. Talk about validation. Please note my kid didn’t personalize this or say I did particularly well at this job, but I wanted to share this because even if they may not say anything, our kids see us--showing up to the games, planning the activities, waiting at the bus stop, sending texts to check in, getting their favorite snacks, and all the other daily minutiae that gets lost in the hustle and bustle. So even if, like me, you are only two weeks into school but feel like we are on day 32,659 already, all those small moments and actions matter.  They see us, and feel us, doing our parenting job. 

While the podcast is forthcoming, in the meantime we are again excited to partner with Downingtown Area School District to offer monthly parent speaker series events; our first is on Sept. 20th at 6pm and is titled, “Not just surviving but thriving: parenting your child through a pandemic and after”. I am hoping to learn skills to help my kids and myself cope with change and continue to navigate this fall knowing there is a certain level of...well uncertainty. I hope to “see” you there for some “professional development” for our beanstalks, and as always, please feel free to email me at cdziembowski@dtownctc.org if you have any feedback or comments, I’d love to hear from you!