"You Have to Be Better..."

10.22.2010

Lately I’ve been contemplating the saying that I often hear from many parents and that is that once you had a kid, you try to be the best person that you possibly could be. Like one of my favorite lines in the movie Away We Go, a woman says about her kids, “You have to be better than you ever imagined.”

I always like to think of myself as already trying to be the best that I can be and I like to tell myself that I certainly don’t need a child to push me to be better. But, as of late, I question those sentiments.

It’s become very easy for me to fall into a lax routine, to come and go as I please and not have to worry about whether or not I’m setting a good example for anyone. And as much I tend to not mind that, when I step outside of my shell, it makes me wonder if I am really being my best when I let things get a little more “slothy” or I don’t push myself to exercise more because all I have is myself. I don’t have to be an example for anyone so why try?

That’s not to say that I haven’t known parents who couldn’t care less about being the best they can be when they have kids. I taught kids with such parents. But I’m taking heed of the comment that I hear from other parents who do take that comment to heart and it makes me wonder if I truly am being as good as I can be.

I’m not saying I have to have a kid to become better. But I think that it becomes easier to be a little lazier in that department because you don’t have to worry about anyone else. There’s no one looking up to you, no one to emulate you and without that I think it’s easier to let part of your personality slip through the cracks.