Uncharted Waters

 

"Uncharted waters" is such a good analogy for parenting. You've got a boat and you've got waters, so that part is familiar, but nothing else is: you don't know what direction the waters go or what you'll encounter along the way. Similarly, we've all grown up so it's not like our children's childhoods are completely alien. Yet, so much is different that unknowns abound.

Every parent must contend with generational changes. Things move fast from when you were a kid to when you have a kid. Growing up, I also dealt with the differences between my immigrant parents, first to come to America, and my own second-generation experience. And then, later on in life, we had a faith gap, with my religious beliefs differing from that of my parents.

For Amy and me, we are navigating all that it means to be a kid growing up in a world forever influenced by COVID and by activism around things like social justice and climate change. The two of us grew up in the suburbs and so are flying a bit blind in helping our three grow up in a big city. We also don't know what it's like to have been adopted, like all three of our kids, or what it's like to move about the world as a Black person, like Asher has and will. 

Truly these are uncharted waters. We are a boat and we are in water, this much we can perceive. Very little else is laid out nice and neat for us. Some days it's calm and pretty. Other days it's tumultuous and foreboding. Welcome to parenthood in 2022.