How to Know the ‘Who’ of Your Kids

How to Know the ‘Who’ of Your Kids 
Susie E Caron (c) 2019

The theme song, titled “Who Are You,” (adapted for tv’s original CSI series,  composed by Pete Townsend and released by The Who in 1978), became my personal parenting approach. Beginning that year and within two years we’d adopted 2 infants. In those days we weren’t told anything about their biological parents or heritage. However, with this new song in my ear, I recognized I couldn’t possibly guess the ‘Who’ they would become until they each showed us. I stayed curious and open to the possibilities, a stance which continued from their infancy into young adulthood.
​
​As adoptive parents, not knowing where your kids came from or who they may become can be an advantage. Many of us, regularly born kids, come into families with lots of history. As a result, we may suffer the unnecessary projected expectations of our parents and grandparents. I was one of those kids. While stories abound of butcher, baker and candlestick makers’ sons and daughters rebelling to move in different directions that didn’t exactly happen, with me.

---

​I was a good kid (mostly) and did all of the traditional things expected in those years (mostly).  I went to college, married, taught elementary school and adopted 2 infants.  My husband and I agreed that I could be a stay at home Mom and I loved every minute of it. When our kids went to school, I opened and taught a riding school. My other career opportunities came and went depending on our kids ages, their growing needs and what was available wherever we moved, from time to time.
​
​ My rebellion or perhaps better written, blossoming, came later in my life when I retired with my husband.

---

I’m happy to report our kids grew up into fine human beings, successful in both their careers and lives. I wonder, if we’d pushed would they have become farmers and teachers, just as we were? Staying curious, we watched, supported and encouraged their individual interests and they ultimately surprised us. Our daughter went into the army followed by college graduation and good career choices. Our son acquired a taste for things alien to us: adventure, big cities, and the world of big business. Different from each other and from us – of course, we love them both.

 I sometimes wonder ‘ Who’ I might have become if my parents had opted a curious attitude toward my developing interests. I’ll never know. However,  I did find out my ‘Who’ after all. 

Recently I received the honor of an interview and featured article posted on the Village Frame Shoppe Blog.
I invite you to read how I discovered my ‘Who’ in
 Susie Caron Artist Profile.
( With my thanks to freelance journalist Leon Thompson and the Village Frame Shoppe, St. Albans, VT)