From Running With The Wolves to Holding Them At Bay...

What is a father?

Part of being a father, for me, is knowing where to draw boundaries. 

Boundaries for Corrina, but more importantly, boundaries for myself. Because so much of her development is influenced by what I model with my own behavior. What I reverberate, she picks up and learns to transmit. 

Shadow included. (gulp)

The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate. ~Douglas Engelbart

Now, there’s a part of me will always be a 22 year old. Like Huck Finn on Dead Tour, deep down, I’ll always have a desire to hit the road and explore the world. Especially with friends.

Last weekend, Corrina & I went camping in Ithaca (rated one of the top 10 places in the world to drop out of “society” by Outsider magazine). It was perfect weather, and we were totally in the flow - the kind of flow that only happens on road trips!

My friend Teresa and her daughter Corina shared the adventure with us.  We made a weekend of waterfall walking, gourmet hippie cuisine - it’s great to see the girls trying things they’ve never had before, and loving them! -  swimming, blackberry picking, hiking, crystals & best friend pendants and a dozen silver dollar sized, vegan pancakes down by the river with baby ducks to feed... it was heaven.

A strong man and a waterfall always channel their own path. ~Anonymous

The waterfall walking was, by far, my favorite part. The 3/4 mile hike through the gorge is magnificent. Shale walls forever crumble inward toward the limestone creek-bed. All along the way there were small waterfalls where the girls would wash and “recharge” their new amethyst crystals - a gift from Teresa.

We reached Toughanock Falls at dusk, after everyone else had shied away. 

A “Do Not Enter” sign hung from the foot-bridge 50 yards from the plummeting water. 

We decided to brave it, taking responsibility for our choices. 

Corrina and I often talk about the paradoxical “Circle of Freedom and Responsibility” and how making good choices, even when difficult, will get her more freedom - with me, and in life.

I hung back with the girls, while Teresa ventured right up to the 200-foot falls with the kids’ crystals - named Shimmer & Shine - in her pocket. She came back drenched! We all had a good time. 

The next day, leaving town, we stopped by the lower falls. A few brave souls were leaping from the 30-35 foot drop of limestone. I got it in my mind to try that. 

“Don’t Die Wondering" has been my motto for some time, now. And it's served me well... to a point.

Naturally, Corrina protested. I told her I ‘heard’ her and motioned to move on with our adventure. We skipped some excellent shale stones on the shore as the jumpers waded to our end of the pool to exit. Corrina reiterated her fear and I hugged her and told her I heard her. Of course, I’m not all punch and pie... the third or fourth time she brought it up I shut her down, told her I had heard her and that I would get angry if she brought it up again.

What is uttered from the heart alone, Will win the hearts of others to your own. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

We all got in the water - fully clothed - planning to change back at the car. I decided I was gonna teach Corrina a lesson in physics (there’s magic in ledge-jumping... you land further forward than your mind can project since you aren’t used to the additional 20-30 feet of drop) and in “feeling the fear and doing it anyway.” 

Since it was right there in front of me I began my ascent, climbing up the pile of falling water over majestic, mossy boulders of the lower falls. Every step and finger-hold was blessed by some magical intuition that I wouldn’t fall and die (this was a harrowing mindfulness practice).

At the top I thanked the terra firma and reflected on the day prior, where we had followed the riverbed to the source. I thought about my Source, and I thought about my death. Jumping from heights is not something I do often. Ever, really. Not once, actually, have I ever jumped from heights above 6-7 feet. 

In fact, I’m terrified of heights. Not fear that I will fall... but that I will jump. So this seemed like the right thing to do. Face my death. Cuz I’m a spiritual warrior... and shit...

An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it. ~JFK

So, I peered over the edge of the drop-off. The girls were on the shore opposite me, camera in hand. I turned to the source and I closed my eyes, stood tall, stretching in the sun, and considered the man I’ve been up to that point. Then I felt into my back-body and I thought of my impending “death” and the man I would be, walking up onto that shore. Proving to my frightened little girl that I’m a man, I tackle challenges like they’re munchkins, or face a part of myself that other kids’ fathers won’t face... I wondered what new pattern this would kick-off for me as a father, as a man. It got me pumped, so I turned to face death.

I walked down to the place everyone had jumped from, and peered over the edge looking for the right place to land. Corrina had turned away. She sat sulking on a stone, facing the other direction. It made me sad that she might miss my moment of raging glory, tearing through the veil of fear, seeing into the heart of my own masculinity... 

Taking some practice steps I got a feel for the leaping energy I would have to push with when I left the rock ledge to pencil dive into the bardo, only to arise, baptized into some new life. Honestly, I live for this. If I don’t have a breakthrough experience a few times a year I go stir-crazy inside my soul.

So, there it was... my moment of departure. Camera girl giving me a thumbs up. Teresa arrived from below to see me off. I rocked back and forth, dialing up my adrenaline, revving my testosterone, thinking how smart I was for not just exploding my circuits, but workin up to it...

And there’s Corrina looking up at me, shoulders slumped forward, pouty lips and a fluttering heart...

Everything was lined up. My trajectory was plotted. I was tuning into my intuition, feeling whether I needed to be cocked a little more this way or that... I was just gonna trust it. Trust myself. When I felt like it was right, I’d let my gut carry me into the fleeting moment of abyss, sweep me into my next life-time. My next incarnation...

And Corrina.

Thoughts bucked through my mind. “It’s scary, yes, but I know I can push myself through my fear.” “I can always come back and do it with my buddies.” “If I don’t do this, what will it say about me?” “No, I have to do it! I said I was gonna do it, and here I go... dammit!”

I felt into my heart. My intuition slowed me down. I followed it. I did what I felt. 

I sat down.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with those who are reckless with yours. ~Mary Schmich

After a few minutes Teresa sits next to me and, like the incredibly powerful woman she is, puts words to what I’m realizing for the first time in my life. By letting Corrina know her heart is more important to me than my transient adventures and epiphanies, however spiritual they may seem, I’m setting a pattern in motion in her that will alter the course of her life.

And mine. 

When I got to the bottom of the rock formation Corrina was waiting for me on the other side of the stream. 

We met in the middle and she held me in an extra-long, extra-silent hug.

The man I became... was not the man I had expected. 

Follow the child. ~Maria Montessori

I’m so grateful or these teaching moments. Children have a way of teaching that eludes me, until it’s upon me. My own Circle of Freedom and Responsibility got turned on its head. 

I didn’t know what to do, so I wrote this post to share.

Actually, finishing up this post a week later, I’m still a bit shaken up by the experience. If you know the feeling, please chime in. I could really use the support... as I’m sure we all could.

To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Creator EnlightenedChild.com

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The Lost Generation - Must See Video

My friend Malena Gamboa from We On Earth - http://www.weonearth.org - first showed me this, and it's absolutely brilliant!



Or Click Here to see this brilliant video about the Lost Generation the refuses to accept...

To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com

be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!

An Open Letter to Michael Strong (draft)

My mission is to Illuminate.

I do that by teaching what I know, or at least sharing my experiences with others - both successes and failures.

Sometimes I want to create a whole curriculum, with formal outlines and all that fun stuff. Then I realize if I can simplify amplify the example I am setting, that can be enough for those who are ready to learn what I'm laying down.

This is an example of a conversation I initiated with Michael Strong. A man who I would consider one of my top candidates for mentoring, if he were so inclined, based on his experience developing Socratic Montessori schools in Alaska, and his current work with John Mackey - founder of Whole Foods.

These are the types of people I want to get around if I am going to really serve the world with the vision I carry in my heart.

I invited Michael's input around my interest in finding a Grad program to deepen my confidence in how I present my vision to the world, and how I develop a community of inquiry around it.

He responded in true Socratic fashion with this clarifying questions:

"Do you know what role you would like to play in the world of education?"

My response, while involved, is the best I've been able to articulate both what I am doing, and how I aim to get there. I post it here both for anyone interested in the Enlightened Child vision, and also for Michael, since I will reply to him with a much truncated version of this stream of consciousness draft.

If you're looking for mentors of this caliber, there are a lot of lessons contained in every part of this blog post.

There are also a lot of suggestions I'd love to hear from anyone who has more experience with this than me.

Below begins my response...

~~~~~
Michael - such wonderful questions. Thank you.

This response is long - I won't be offended if you skip to the bottom where I do finally boil it down to one, tripartite sentence explaining what I am after.

~~~~~

From the hip: I want to foster a Community of Inquiry that spreads globally (via social media networks) like a mycelium network, attracting the brightest minds and deepest hearts and helping them launch a life of True Purpose according to their individual nature.

My methodology is to start with Truth, express it through Beauty, and simply invite those who are interested (find this Good) into a dialogue, into a community of inquiry where we explore the truth and get it working for us, get our lives on track because lord knows the current administration and schooling system all but insidiously intends to knock us off track, knock us senseless. Grrrrr...

So, my vision is to enter the educational process at any age - pre-birth to maturity - with a series of principles that quite frankly "Make Sense!"

I create Montessori-inspired toys and games and books that model core principles every child must come to know to be successful in life. They begin learning about Art, Morals and Science... Compass, Mentors, Maps... Health, Compassion, Wealth... from a very early age because I provide a format for discussing the big questions in life using the symbols for truth that have been refined over millenia - the Oroborous, Yin-Yang, Chakras, Enneagram, Kabbalah, Zodiac. "Graduation" from my "school" means a student is financially self-sufficient, well-connected and able to obtain new mentors, radiating health & has a clear compass in hand at all times.

My materials are patterned after Montessori materials because I attended 2 years of Primary. My daughter is in her 6th year now, and her mother just completed her 3 summer Primary certification. They are very simple - a coloring book that represents numbers 1-12 in a multi-cultural expose of principles. Oroboros, Yin-Yang, Triquestra, Zia, 5 Chinese Elements, Hexagram, Chakras, Ba-Gua, Enneagram, Kabbalah, Planetary Archetypes, Zodiac. I also create games - like painting a Mancala board with the chakras, using it to teach about cause & effect, relationship dynamics and how to create a windfall of success.

Imagine if the Tri-nomial Cube was a popular toy made by Mattel for the mass-market. You and I know Pythagorean mysteries are contained in the concrete operational artifact, and its purpose is to hardwire the child's brain for the abstract understanding to be overlayed several years later (assuming the child is able to stay with the Montessori curriculum!) My materials invite deeper mysteries - the deepest, most relevant ideas for the greatest number of humans. Who am I? What do I want? How will I get it? In a Good Way?

As a Dead Head, I developed my materials to "get around" and operate like a modular, supplemental education system. Since they are primarily tools for pattern recognition, it doesn't matter what "else" the child has learned to that point, interacting with the materials spontaneously organizes the accumulated data in the child's mind. A formal schooling environment is welcome to incorporate them as well as any homeschooler, as well as any curious child who happens upon these in a Dead parking lot ;-)

People of all ages can be attracted to the beauty, and allow the deeper meaning to seep in over time - like a young child or a thick adult ;-p, or for young adults, even teens, I want to create a series of coaching nad information products that invite them to dive into the deeper meaning and explore the principles I present them through coaching, group calls, events and workshops, and yes, perhaps physical schools... though this is not where I intend to focus. Too slow for me, though I respect the value of a well run institution when I see one ;-)

My own daughter has proven to me that children can understand the rudimentary principles as young as 3, probably younger if I knew how to test for this. I've developed a handful of proto-type toys and games and books over the years. People LOVE them. It's my passion to create them, delving deep into the mystery schools from which they have been passed into the world.

What has held me back from living this mission wide open to this point is critical deficiencies in my development. Ken Wilber's AQAL map has been the most helpful in pin-pointing the deficiencies, and now after a 5 year jaunt through the world of slash and burn economics, I have "graduated" back to a more Integral worldview, with the lessons of Marketing and Business Development seared into my heart like a cattle brand.

I'm ready to launch, to teach what I've learned to my entrepreneurial interns, and work out the organization of this "school" that also serves to administer my business (a social media marketing firm based on Authenticity). I have 12-15 young men paying $100/mo and doing these weekly and monthly coaching calls. That money accumulates until it is enough to scholarship one of these young men who is really showing earnest desire to teach and master through mentoring his cohort - send him to a national workshop or seminar that will completely alter his map of reality and transform his character. Integrate his energy across the rest of the cohort, and strengthen the frame of consciousness I am intent on fostering.

Come spring, I want to be enrolled in a program that will give me the CONFIDENCE (not just credentials) to really step things up to a national and international level. I want to fast-track my Authority positioning by writing some profound papers, possibly a book, that will explain this unique educational framework - the mentoring pyramid informed by inquiry into the principles of deep presence... Living Embodied Enlightenment if you will.

My hunch is, with enough exposure to enlightening ideas, the developing soul will spontaneously burst into a full blown Enlightenment experience. Even if only for a moment. And THAT is what I believe the world needs - more of us informed by a True vision of our Soul's Purpose. Along with the influence and resources to do something profound with that Vision.

And, like Ghandi says, I gotta be the change I wanna see. I have to model this and entrain the DNA of my "lineage" by aligning myself with mentors of strong character and penetrating insight - both into the world, and into me.

There is so much I know I'm capable of... I'm ready to start experiencing life with the guidance of worthy mentors who SEE me, Feel me, and draw me into the world in an extremely skillful way - much as you have done with your question today. Heheh - an Educator. One who 'draws forth from within.'

Michael - I'm open to creating this scenario for myself through some college that facilitates independent study. Or a program that is already in place (Fielding's MA in Educational Leadership & Change with an Integral Certificate caught my eye). Or even just diving in with some steady guidance by a man like yourself, and perhaps others you recommend to round out the experience and guidance.

What I mostly need is a focused course with a clear outcome - develop and publish an educational manifesto per above outline, secure mentoring relationships with a stellium of exceptional mentors, and grow this "school" that is really a business that pays the bills while paying interns to learn and stay close to me. Yep. That's it, in a nutshell.

Apologies for building you a clock when you asked for the Time. First opportunity anyone's ever given me to truly un-pack all that I've been carrying in my soul the past decade.

Thanks again,

Craig

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com

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Just Catching My Breath!!!

The past couple weeks have been a whirlwind of adventure and connection with some of the people I love most in all the world.

Most notably, I completed a 108 Day Men's Leadership and Initiation training with Jayson Gaddis out in Boulder: www.revolutionaryman.com

The 5 Pillars of a Revolutionary Man are:

1.) Self-Knowledge - As Socrates admonished 2000+ years ago, "The unexamined life is not worth living." I think that's true, and I think it's even more true when we're talking about a group of men (or women) getting together to examine life together. There's power in our ability to work together towards a shared vision. After several nights around a campfire, I think we boiled down what our common vision was - the thing that brought us all together from 1000's of miles apart.

TO GET BETTER, IN A GOOD WAY

2.) Service - Something happened to me when I was 21 or so. I realized that service is actually a gift for MEEEEE!!! Can't explain it, maybe call it Karma, or the Golden Rule, I just notice that when I am engaging with the world from a place of service - both opening doors for old ladies, and anyone else passing by, as a well as, serving the world with my deepest gifts - I am much more connected, and much, much happier.

3.) Leadership - I had a hard time coming up with a spontaneous definition for this one, so I googled it and found this in Wikipedia: "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen." That fits for me, and I witnessed first hand how Jayson invited all 8 of us to participate in making something truly extraordinary, likely unprecedented, happen. It's something I aim to repeat. I am in the process of leading a group of young men and the results are shaping up to be nothing less than extra-ordinary.

4.) Fun/Celebration - This is a biggie. So much of my adult life I've had my nose to the grindstone, or just been too tired to make much room for celebration. Tanking several businesses doesn't lead to a lot of celebration either... even though every "no" has gotten me so much closer to a "YES!" in that game too, I really feel I need to accomplish something worthwhile before allowing myself to celebrate. Well, this past weekend in Boulder was certainly an occasion for fun and celebration, and I thank J. and my bros for making sure we danced and howled and ran amok "In a Good Way" :-]

5.) Community (relationships) - This is where it all comes together. To me, all the previous Pillars are great, and necessary, and true. What is most powerful, I find, is doing all these TOGETHER. The relationships J. fostered among the 8 men who participated in the first Revolutionary Man training are among the deepest I have known in this life. For a kid who grew up mostly in a day-dream of my own inventions and adventures, relating to people with authenticity and presence is a real edge. Dropping in with these men, and the women J. wove into our weekend, has been some of the best work I've done in my 15 years in pursuit of personal growth.

All totalled, the 108 days of working with Jayson and these men has totally transformed my life. They have supported me through a major life transition - from employee to entrepreneur (again) - and also helped me experience my own power in ways I only suspected were possible.

Bringing what I have learned back to Rochester, NY where I mentor a fair number of young men is an exciting challenge. It's my strategy for teaching what I need to learn so I may begin to master it.

There are several options I know of that can serve a boy as young as 10, and a man as old as they come, for initiation and deep growth. I'm more than happy to invest some time out of my day into discussing my experience and the options I know are available.

If you're interested, don't be shy.

Contact me: Craig (at) EnlightenedChild.com or via social media.

I look forward to being of service on your journey.

To Your Enlightenment Experience!

Craig

Want a free print of the 'Realized' Buddha collage I made in 1998? Enter your email here: www.enlightenedchild.com

be sure to join our Facebook Fan Page as well!

Does Your Child Know Her Purpose Yet?

It's no joke - we are all born with a purpose, and the schooling system couldn't care less.

Most teachers are just grown up products of the same system and are so deep into it that most teachers either have no idea what their own true purpose in life is (I hardly believe that a teacher would tell you "my purpose is to brainwash hundreds of kids into consumer society drones") or they have no tools for consistently liberating children from this cycle of consumer socialization to a true realization of their inborn purpose. So, the cycle perpetuates itself in mass-unconsciousness.

(pardon me while I go puke out the window...)

One of the most important exercises I've ever done (and I have worked through it dozens and dozens of times over the last decade) is discovering and defining and deciding what my purpose is.

I learned it first from Michael Gerber in the E-Myth Mastery Academy - which is an entrepreneurial coaching program. He understands that, in order for a business to serve the entrepreneur's life, we must begin with what's in our heart first, then build the business around that clarity.

Michael Losier's book on the Law of Attraction walks us through a nearly identical exercise. Tony Robbins, and all the classic success gurus say pretty much the same thing. Seems there's a pattern here:

1.) Write down everything you DON'T want in your life

2.) Use that list to come up with clarity about what you DO want in your life

3.) Boil that down to the essence of who you are and what your life is all about

Why were you born?

10 words or less!

Hold this mantra as a compass. Something you never forget. If I come to your house at 3am and shake you awake and say, "WHAT'S YOUR PURPOSE?!!" you should spit it right out.

Do you have this clarity?

Well, I walked my 8 year old through this same exercise last fall and she came up with a list that's just as legit as anything an adult could conjure up. After all, it doesn't take a PhD to know what you want in life, and if you look a little deeper, to see where those wants are coming from.

Look closely at this picture, you can see her two separate columns...




What did she come up with?

"To love and take care of animals"

Simple.

What's better than that!




So, here's where it comes into play, and the reason I'm inspired to post about this. Last week she demonstrated this on a handful of occasions:

1.) She rescued a baby bird from the playground at school

2.) She rescued a guinea pig that was to be "given a shot that would make him sleep until it was time for him to die"

3.) She rescued a baby chipmunk from the clutches of her cat Stella

4.) She captured a moth and brought it home, set it free in my bedroom and pet it good night by the lamp

5.) She gingerly carried around the snails she captured by the trainyard where we find em

6.) She does research on koalas and other animals at school...

And that's just ONE WEEK!!!

I applaud her for living her purpose and it settles into her psyche that she is fundamentally good and rooted in a core purpose that serves the world and makes her feel whole and complete.

It's an incredible thing.

I highly recommend it.

If you're a teacher or a parent who would like more information on how you can help kids discover their own Purpose in life, please contact me.

After all, my purpose is: To Enlighten the World!

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

How to Get a Mentor?

It seems counter-intuitive... "Take a Millionaire to Lunch! but HE'S the one with all the money and I'm broke!"

What about the offering of gifts is so irresistible to Mentors?

Narcissism. The Mentoring relationship is more than merely training or teaching. It's probably got roots in some Freudian complex, which none-the-less means there's great power in the relationship.

Mentors are on a path. They have conquered the mountain, or are well on their way to it. They don't have time for nambi-pambi bologna. They want results because the results they are known for is what qualifies them as a potential mentor for you (or your child) in the first place.

WARNING: It's a common fallacy, and a sure set up for disappointment, to project guru status on someone who is expert in their field. This shows up most often in the way they are seen as expert in an omni-potent sense - they know it all... about everything - when really they may be woefully unqualified to mentor you(r child) in any other area. Think starving artist or pervert guru. They have one field of competence nailed - clearly to the detriment of other areas like sustenance and morality. So, just be careful of this.

So, mentors see themselves in the mentee. They won't work with someone in a TRUE mentoring capacity unless they can see the inner nature of the protege as clearly as they see their own hand. Everything else is just passing advice and well-wishing one another on your way. True mentoring is a durable, ongoing relationship that can last decades or lifetimes.

How do you find these potential mentors and then get them to mentor you(r child)?

Good question - because Mentors save you so much time and heartache it's not even funny. Taking a millionaire to lunch could change your life. So, don't hesitate when you see an opportunity to obtain even passing advice. And when you find someone you really feel is right for you - I mean, you've checked each other out in person, learned about what you each want in life, where you're going and how your mentor can help you get there... then you can follow these steps:

The steps for obtaining a mentor, as given to me by a mentor I'm courting:

1.) Identify a burning desire in your heart.

2.) Learn as much as you can about this on your own.

3.) Identify individuals who have gone and done what you envision going and doing.

4.) Approach them and interview them. It's always a mutual interview.

5.) Suggest a mentoring relationship - they may be experienced in this or not.

6.) Tell them you'd like to make a formal offering for them to consider.

7.) Prepare and deliver a package of some sort the represents something meaningful to the atmosphere or relationship dynamic that you are entering in to. Something that the Mentor can consider in the gestalt of his life and how much he is willing and able to commit to this process.

8.) Be on time for meetings, be professional with communications, keep all commitments in a timely fashion, and be generally grateful for all instruction and reflection.

9.) Watch for pathologies that may disrupt or interfere with a True Mentoring Relationship - never abdicate responsibility for your mental and emotional safety to ANYONE. You are your own best protector. Keep your eyes open.

10. Continually obtain new mentors on your journey of life. This will provide a blend of perspectives, and give you a roundtable of reference points to call on when advancing through life's choppy waters. Collect Mentors and keep in touch with them. They truly care about you and want to share your journey. The more you keep in touch, the easier you will find it to call on them even years down the road.

So, this is my run-down on Getting Mentors.

I'm sending a wooden box of natural tobacco to my chosen mentor. If he accepts, I will be heading to Vermont, near Burlington, to be Mentored as a Water Pourer for sweat lodges several times a year - Solstice and Equinox sweats.

Today I found the box I will send. So, this was on my mind.

Hope you find it helpful and certainly hope you're share it with your teens and their friends!

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

SHOULD Your Child Be Working From a Checklist?

Making the "checklist" process conscious has a lot of value. It's a life-skill that is never really taught, unless by a mentor who either discovered it or learned it from his own mentor. Most people are not proficient at it, and it's like playing an instrument, learning a language - you have to practice for years.

So, here's this insight:

Teach your child to consciously develop mental checklists so they know how to make and improve checklists in their minds. (Hint: put the steps on paper and run through them while revising, then memorize/habituate the new routine.)

I like to use my hand as a counting tool. I think 3 things are manageable for a young child, so I'll put up my fist and stick out my pinky and call that the step where we do what Corrina wants to do. Then I'll stick out my thumb and have that be the next step I want her to take. Usually it's something simple just to get her on track and feeling accomplished. So, when she was 4-5 it was taking our shoes off when we get in the house and putting them away properly. Something consistent that she could rely on. Something familiar to reduce anxiety and build good habits around the house or whatever teaching environment. (Which I learned from Montessori Primary - Practical Life skills.)


So the conversation would go something like this:

Corrina: Dad can we wrestle when we get home?

Dad: Absolutely. What has to happen before we can wrestle?

Corrina: Ummmm...

Dad: Okay when we get home what's the first thing we always do?

Corrina: Put away shoes!??

Dad: okay and what has to happen after we put away our shoes, before we can wrestle?

Corrina: eat dinner!

Dad: What else?

Corrina: what else?

Dad: Do the dishes...

Corrina: Brush Teeth!

Dad: Bingo!

So, then whenever she gets off track, I just hold up my hand and reiterate the process. Oftentimes, simply holding up the fingers of the items we've completed will jar her memory of the next thing we gotta check off the checklist.

As she got older and was excited to learn how to write we would make checklists on notecards. Now, I was experimenting with notecards in my business, and she saw me using them on a daily basis. It intrigued her, so we made lists for ourselves during Daddy-Daughter time.

She now knows how to use them. Even though we've gone back to the ever-convenient hand for tracking what we gotta do, she has worked with the process on paper and it is like the rings of a tree as she develops that patterning will resonate out and shape her future experience. When she is older, I expect we will revisit this, and it will not be totally foreign. Something inside her will resonate with the principles, and respond to another lesson around upgrading her checklists - both mentally and on paper.

Making checklists is something we all do anyway. They are powerful scripts running in our lives that we would do well to master. Helping our children master these scripts by teaching them how to write and improve them in their own minds feels almost like a moral obligation to me.

What do you think?

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

What is Friendship?

Normally, I'd go straight to Dictionary.com and settle this straight away. Whatever prompted me to write about this is also prompting me to come up with my own definitions first. I think that's a sound plan, so let's proceed ;-]

Friendship is one of those maleable terms. It means a lot of different things to a lot of different people and tends to mean different things at different times.

The simplest definition I can come up with is simply: affinity, liking

Friendship is mutual liking. It's feeling connected on some level and desiring good relations with another.

Certainly things only get more complex from there, but as a basic definition, that satisfies me.

What sort of complex manipulations we pull on ourselves and one another. The other day I saw two three-year-olds playing and getting acquainted. Maybe it was their astrology, or mutual cute-ness, or proximity and gender, or maybe that's just 3-year olds for ya... but they engaged in mutual liking of the purest form.

What happens to us as we get older that causes us to ply our friendships with emotional and psychological posturing in order to get our way? Is communication that difficult?

Being in touch with my heart and speaking congruently with its purity is one of my highest life aspirations.

In this regard, I'm pray that I end up learning more from my daughter than she from me.

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

Oh Baby, That's the Ticket!

You can't ride without ticket... You can't see the show without a ticket... You can't get where you're goin without a ticket!

So, what's your ticket?

Maybe you're a teacher or a CPA or sales person. Whatever it is, the thing you do well, that gets you paid, gets you through doors that others can't pass through... that's your ticket.

Everyone needs at least one ticket. Life is about taking yourself where you wanna go. It's about having a compass and a direction. It's about overcoming obstacles and challenges to realizing your true nature. It's about exploring and experiencing and expressing all that life has to offer within, without and through you.

So, what's your ticket?

I didn't have a ticket for a long time. I had pieces of a ticket. I had a little of this and little of that... but I didn't have a TICKET. I didn't have something I could use to get me around in this world.

With a Philosophy Degree, minor in Art and another in Religion... that didn't really open a lot of doors, or get me where I was doing. I had no interest in the corporate world, or college for that matter. So, to the best of my ability I set myself up to NOT be admitted into the long, grey line of American manhood.

After Corrina was born, I realized I needed a ticket. I needed something to give me access to the world where people make money and take care of themselves and their families. I was substitute teaching - I was hanging around, but I didn't have a ticket. Teaching is my thing, but institutionalized schooling is not. So I bailed on that path.

Sales welcomed me with open arms. The world can always use another hack salesman. After a while of monkeying with that I realized it wasn't a ticket unless I could ACTUALLY sell something. Starting a business seemed like a ticket, but it took so long to figure it out. Finally, after moving to Chicago and getting involved in the Real Estate boom, I found my ticket.

I'm a serial entrepreneur with a sales and marketing bent. If there's a market, and I can live with the product, I can sell it.

That's my ticket.

It gets me the money I need to get where and what I want in my life. It gets me backstage into some pretty cool meetings and businesses that I would never have access to otherwise. It takes me to cool seminars and conferences where I meet incredibly powerful and intelligent people who also have a Sales/Marketing ticket... I couldn't be happier.

Here's the moral... it took me nearly 30 years to find my ticket. That's a long time. That's a long time being a scared, naive kid with no ticket. That's a lot of missed shows, a lot of missed trains... not the way I want my kid to grow up.

Most of what I've learned about sales and marketing could be taught to a 3rd or a 6th grader fairly easily. Especially when we get talking about information marketing and online businesses. Teens could acquire a lifetime ticket to ride by simply laying off the XBox 360 a few hours per day and learning the principles of marketing and internet sales.

Getting that ticket means your child will be able to go see shows, take rides, meet cool people, get an education, travel and explore... Whether it's sales or anything else, make sure your child knows that they will need a ticket, and help them start figuring out what that may be for them. It takes years to get a handle on it - no point in waiting to figure it out until after school and all the pressure that brings.

Better to get it handled early, so that the 20's are a time of radical self-exploration with a base of financial freedom that affords educational experiences impossible to obtain through school.


Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

Hey Baby... What's Your Enneagram Number?

It's a lot like Astrology, or what we'd call a Type system where you can lookup all the aspects of your personality according to some cookbook recipe correlated with your birthday or name or something...

Except the Enneagram is more than that. The Enneagram is a total mystery. I've never heard the straight story on where it comes from, though I heard a rumor it's Sufi, another that it came out of Chile in the last 50-60 years or so, and the one I like to retell - Jesuits were using it to secretly decode the temperaments of their parishoners in things like marriage counseling sessions.

Since the Enneagram also tells you what your path of growth is, as well as healthy and unhealthy manifestations, you can pretty much pinpoint how you're doing on a soul level.

My men's group is currently running their profiles. Here are some of the resources they've posted on our forum. I'm revisiting mine and teetering on a 4 with a 3 wing or a 3 with a 4 wing.

If you don't know what that means, here's the standard rundown on the Enneagram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality

Here are some tests:

$10 - http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/dis_sample_36.asp

$0 - http://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test.php

Facebook even has an app! Just search Enneagram on Facebook and click on the Applications tab.

But ultimately, your best resource will be this book: The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types

Coincidentally, I just completed the Enneagram on the new Enlightened Child Mandala.

I gotta go back and review my notes from years ago. I wonder if you can change types! Maybe I'm just coming to know my true self...

Take the Enneagram test - - let me know what you think!

And try to complete one for your child. It will do wonders for your communication and understanding to put words on what you already intuit. Let me know!

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

What Do 21st Century Knowledge Workers Need To Know if They Are Only 13 Still...

First of all, MOST of the fundamentals still apply. Gravity will get ya, and so will a lot of other truisms about life. so stay keen for them and collect them like jewels.

Secondly, a lot of what you hear floating around that passes for advice or common sense is DEAD NUTS WRONG. You gotta be prepared to make up your own mind on EVERY SINGLE ITEM of Information or Emotion that crosses your radar field. That means you have to have a well-tuned mind and an ability to recognize patterns.

Pattern recognition is huge. The sooner you learn to generalize with pattern recognition, the more time you save yourself figuring out that if you keep doing what you have always done you will keep getting what you've been getting all along.

So learn to recognize patterns and think in constructs. You have to actively build your philosophy of life, and that's why I recommend starting with the fundamentals - Jim Rohn is a good place to start.

Then finally, make sure you are in touch with your genius. Know the answer to or be asking these three questions at all times until you have a lock on the place they all overlap. Then DIG DEEP! Life is short and you gotta take your chances when you see them line up in your sites!

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."
~Goethe

Here are the 3 questions:

1.) What can I be the best in the world at (hint: there's Riches in Niches)

2.) What do I LOVE doing so much I'd do it for no pay at all. (or, if you had a $100MM inheritance...)

3.) How can I monetize what I know and deliver it in a way that supports my purpose and lifestyle?

When you have an answer to those questions, then you'll be free like Neo in the Matrix!

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

Why I'm Stoked For My Young Friend!

Or "How to Cure Depression in Teenagers" This is a good read for anyone with a bitchy teenager hoggin up the couch all summer and aggravating you with their pent up teenage energy that just gets stuffed and strung out into a passive-aggressive depression.

Where do I begin...

A young man I know, recent new friend of mine, is a real sweet guy. He lives in a rural area with his mother and attends the local college. He's just starting to spread his wings - he chose to drop engineering to major in psychology. This is in response to an inner urge to understand himself, his emotional and mental states.

He meditates daily with Holosync, and he gave me the book in which Bill Harris explains the science behind meditation and how his product helps the brain meditate better. (My marketing mentor, Dave Dee, recommended I pattern Enlightened Child on this model - so I needed to read it, and here I receive a copy!)

Anyway - what I'm most excited about is my friends new job.

He is dealing with a low-grade depression which I recognize from what I experienced around his age. He's not sure of what he wants in life, he doesn't have a good support structure for his soul or his masculinity, and he is tired all the time because of it. Good recipe for a down-ward spiral.

Well, he recently started a new job. He mentioned it in reference to how it helps him get up and get ouf of bed in the morning.

Not only that, I'm fired up for him because it takes 30 days to make/break a habit and he's gonna have 3 months of daily yard and landscape work to occupy his days. Think of the benefits:

1.) He has a reason to get out of bed - that's a good first step to ending depression

2.) He is outside in the sunlight, breathing fresh air, working with his body - that'll change your neuro-chemistry

3.) He is working with his hands - he can stand back and say, "I did that - it's DONE!"

4.) He now has some cash resources and he's entered the economic marketplace - he can start considering how he wants to generate income... a perfect lead in to the Four-Hour Work-Week by Tim Ferris

5.) He can start to think about what he WANTS! I told him to think about spending $300 out of the entire summer income and put it towards something he really wants.

He had no idea what he wanted, so it has now become an opportunity to explore that. Solve that one, and he'll never be chronically depressed again.

So that's why I'm stoked for him.

If you know any teenagers - especially boys - explore initiation rites for them. Don't keep them pinned down in some "good-little-boy" mold until he's out of the house. Give him his birthright. Here are a couple places to begin your exploration. Feel free to get in touch with me using the email box on the right. I'll be happy to help in any way I can.

Why Your Teenage Son Needs a Rite of Passage - Jason Gaddis' Revolutionary Man Blog

Journeyman - Watch this movie!

Boys to Men - Find a Local Training Weekend

For Uninitiated Men - It's Time... time to clean up the residue of your boyhood and take full responsibility for your life (even the parts we hide, repress and deny)

I hope this information is helpful - and I'm super psyched for my new friend!

Go play in the sunshine ;-]

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

Is Astrology Worth Examining or Not?

Ever since college when my friend did my astrological birth chart, I have been totally intrigued by the idea that I could learn about myself and others, and our relationships through this ancient system.

A funny story: Back in college at the UW - Madison, my good friend Adam shot me down when I attempted to learn about his chart. He gave me a false birthday. When I read his sign to him he asked me if I thought that sounded like him. I could see how it fit. Then he told me, with a Scorpionic sneer, that he had lied about his birthday and therefore astrology was a load of garbage. Ironically, he is now a professional astrologer: www.theskyisyou.com

This week I'm staying with him in Denver. Not surprisingly, he will read and explain a whole bunch of astrological jargon and then look me dead in the eye and say something like, "Astrolgy is such BS." And it is... yet it's also eerily true in more cases than not - especially when you get under the covers and really explore the deep intricacies of your chart.

Or your child's chart!

(You can get a free Chart for yourself and your child at Astro.com. I highly recommend it. What you learn will help you understand yourself, your child, and the dynamics of your relationship. It's not hard science, true. But the insights will blow your mind.)

Adam's been studying Uranus quite a bit, and gave me a book that details some of the finer points of how this planet can affect.

What I read fit very much with the experiences I've been having the past week. Especially since my Boulder experiences.

The upshot of the book relative to my chart (I have a Uranus/Moon conjuction - which means they are very close together) helped me understand the "Soul DNA" that inspires me to develop the Enlightened Child Philosophy of Education.

Uranus energy has to do with profound insight, brilliance, talent and enlightenment.

Moon energy is associated with emotions, home, nurturing and childhood.

Uranus = Enlightened
Moon = Child

How could I possible make something like that up? There's no way. It's just uncanny.

How does this help me? Well, not only does it validate my own path, it affirms that by helping parents, teachers and children to understand themselves through deep exploration with systems like Astrology (among others - I believe in a "triangulated verification") they can come to know themselves much more intimately and navigate their lives and relationships much more gracefully than just winging it while flying blind. Learning only through trial and error, with no objective reference for personal typology or tendency.

(Being adopted, this method has been my best means of self-understanding. I sincerely wish my parents had taken an interest in how we can know one another more intimately using this tool.)

Another great book Adam showed me is called An Astrological Mandala by Dane Rudhyar. Here's the quote that blew me away today and inspired me to write about what I learned in this post:

Phase 209 - Libra 29 degree (my moon): Mankind's vast and enduring effort to reach for knowledge transferable from generation to generation.

Keynote: A deep sense of participation in, and commitment to, social processes which seek to bring all men Truth and greater Life.

I'm gonna stop there because it's already dense enough for this light-hearted blog, but as you can see, the passion I feel for creating a system of educational enlightenment by teaching children the wisdom contained in simple esoteric symbols like the yin-yang and... ironically, astrology, is well founded in my "Soul DNA."

The rest of the passage goes on to talk about how the most characteristic of human natures is to "bind time" or transfer to others yet unborn the hard-won insights and knowledge of those who have come before. It's trans-generational mentoring. It's conscious participation in cosmic evolution.

It's so COOL!

If you've learned anything profound about yourself from a system like Astrology, the Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, etc... I'd love to hear your story. Feel free to share in the comments.

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

How Do You Define Genius?

Have you ever thought about it?

What really is a genius, or "genius" itself?

Google it, you get a Wikipedia entry at the top that says:

A genius is an individual who successfully applies a previously unknown technique in the production of a work of art, science, or calculation, or who masters and personalizes a known technique. A genius typically possesses great intelligence or remarkable abilities in a specific subject, or shows an exceptional natural capacity of intellect and/or ability, especially in the production of creative and original work, something that has never been seen or evaluated previously. Traits often associated with genius include strong individuality, imagination, uniqueness, and innovative drive[citation needed].

The term may be applied to someone who is considered gifted in many subjects[1] or in one subject.

Although the term "genius" is sometimes used to denote the possession of a superior talent in any field, e.g. a particular sport or statesmanship, it has traditionally been understood to denote an exceptional natural capacity of intellect and creative originality in areas of art, literature, philosophy, music, language, science and mathematics.

Which makes good sense.

A dear friend of mine once defined a genius as, "someone who knows what they don't know."

How could you know something you don't know?

Look more closely at the grammar: Knows what they don't know. They can say, without feeling inadequate, that they do not know something. they are self-aware enough to honestly appraise their situation and admit to themselves, or others, that they are ignorant on the details of some categorical subject matter. They don't throw out some "intuitive" guess, or gloss over it in their own minds, operating semi-consciously on erroneous assumptions.

So, by that definition, a genius is someone who questions assumptions, norms and mores.

I'm not saying I'm a genius because I question the government, the FDA, the schooling system, etc... Though I do claim there is a correlation between genius and asking the big questions in life.

So, maybe a genius is someone who asks good questions, and doesn't seek to resolve complex conundrums, but tolerates the ambiguity and paradox long enough to open their mind to something profound and transcendent, embracing the light of experience and a new perception not previous available at the level of thinking that the question was asked at.

What do you think defines genius?

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

Don't Miss!!!

There's a lot of wisdom in this advice I learned from Jim Rohn.

He says, "Don't Miss! ...don't miss the show, don't miss the party, don't miss the game"

So much of my younger life I spent in a bit of a shell. Not sure of myself or what I wanted from life, I played it safe. I stayed home. I kept my need for adventure under wraps.

Now that I've spread my wings once or twice, I have a sense of who I am and what I want. I know what I like because I've tried a lot of things. They haven't all been that greatest of experiences, but I've corrected course based on the feedback I got.

Monday night I had an opportunity to see a band rolling through town. I wanted to go. I met the band, they seemed cool... my friend has been raving about them for weeks... and I missed the show. I fell asleep and didn't wake up in time to go.

So last night we drove 2 hours to Ithaca and saw them (and another really cool band) and I didn't miss the show. I felt great about simply not missing the show. I was there. I saw that band. Those memories are mine. Those pictures, those are genuine article. And the band was INCREDIBLE!!! Check them out - http://www.myspace.com/theseunited

What made the difference between me now and me 10 years ago?

Somewhere along the way I reached some philosophical point where I was somehow different.

Maybe I discovered who I am. Maybe I decided what I want. Maybe I delved into life because it became more painful to stand on the sidelines watching than to go out and play a few hands of my own.

I wonder if you've had any kind of shift like that... where you looked back and said, "Wow, how did that happen?"

Seriously, let me know...

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

What is Strengths-Based Learning?

Don't look at me like I'm supposed to know.

I just think it's interesting how our schooling system prepares kids for neither the skills they need to survive as an organism, nor the skills they need to survive in the 21st Century.

The schooling system is an antiquated relic of what our economy used to be based on. With a knowledge-, trust- or integrity-based economy, the rules are all different. Kids are gonna need a different set of skills than the ones they are being taught in school.

Marcus Buckingham worked with the Gallup Poll surveying achievement based on strengths assessments that revealed the most successful people focus on what they are best at, and essentially outsource or delegate the rest. This, in contrast, to struggling with shortcomings and working on improving areas of weakness. It's the simple understanding that your best salespeople shouldn't be doing admin work, or anything else but selling. Most suck at admin work. Everyone is served better if the salesman can just do what he's best at, and someone else who rocks out the admin can support the sales process. The salesman will get a lot farther investing time and money improving his sales ability than investing the same time and money improving his administrative abilities.

What Buckingham determined is that, to be our best selves in this life time, we need to determine (as Jim Collins would say in Good to Great) what can we each be the best in the world at? What are we passionate about? What adds value to the marketplace?

The confluence of these three things is what makes a person or an enterprise successful. It would make sense that we begin with this end in mind, since, afterall, we say we want the best for our kids. We want them to be viable in the marketplace so they can have things in their lives that make them comfortable and happy. A good income doing something they enjoy, abundant health for them and their family, great connections and a sense of compassion for the suffering we are fortunate enough to transcend as a result of our education.

So, Strengths-Based Learning would be something along the lines of:

Drawing forth the latent talents and interests the child carries within his DNA. Mentoring those abilities, and aligning the learners with each other based on strengths and needs compatibilities. Sending the team on a mission to fulfill their souls' purposes.

Or something to that effect.

Got anything to add or amend?

Cheers,

Craig

to see original post and all my social media links, visit: www.enlightenedchild.com

What Do Kids Need from Education in the 21st Century?

Communication.

It's no surprise that the internet is changing the lives of millions of people around the world.

Social Media sites like Twitter & Facebook (and the even faster, even funner applications they will no doubt become the great-grandparents of) connect people in organic webs by values and affinities. Marketing has taken a turn towards authenticity. Kids have great bullshit detectors, and within a decade I expect they will have torn down a great portion of the veil that shields companies from accountability in the global village.

Politics and health-care will no-doubt be affected as millions of Millenials rise up in a democratic vote with each post they make. Someone is gonna listen. Someone will meet the need. And it just might make our government a little more honest.

But what do these kids need to be empowered to stand up to the powers that be?

They need communication skills. They need to know how to get along with and influence others. They need a strong moral compass that considers the greatest good for the greatest number, and a spiritual connection to the source of truth.

They need resources and the ability to both garner and steward the resources and relationships necessary to carry out their vision.

Kids need an education that helps them become an apple tree if they are an apple seed, an oak tree if they are an acorn, a watermelon if they are a watermelon seed. And not a system of socialization that only recognizes and nurtures one type of seed.

Kids come with all the instructions already programmed inside them. It's just a matter of taking the time to ask. To give the child some orienting maps and a sense that what they want to do in their heart is a good place to start from, and to hold that passion out in front like a compass.

They need an education system that teaches them how to be free, sovereign individuals.

What do you think kids need?

Cheers,

Craig

What Do Children Need?

It's interesting to ask such a simple question.

Sort of like breathing... we just assume we know, so we seldom ask.

Do you feel like you know what children need? What is that understanding based on?

Like rings of a tree, we all carry our "inner child" around inside of us and are influenced by the same needs we had decades ago. Operating under the surface of our lives, we all share a common need for survival and connection. Yet, adults have a distinct advantage in getting those needs met. We can work and drive and facilitate the meeting of our own needs.

Maybe what children need is to be empowered to get their own needs met. Not the needs we think they have, but the needs they genuinely have.

How do we know what children need?

Ask them?

Observe them?

Study about them?

All of the above. Be curious. Practice beginner's mind. Follow the child.

Somehow, connecting with your child's true needs satisfies the needs of your own inner child.

It's a powerful practice.

Cheers,

Craig

Is Your Child Curious, Interested & Engaged?

It's so easy to get off track with our kids. Life has a way of carrying us off into routines and ways of thinking that just miss the mark of authenticity.

Kids are so impressionable - their souls are forming within them, and socialization molds their behaviors and narrows their options.

We want so much to give them the knowledge and understanding we value that it's easy to overlook the innate compass they carry, and the direction it is calling them to go.

As a parent, it's important to check in with our own compass from time to time. More importantly, it's important to check in with our childrens' compasses. They need support and encouragement to follow their heart's desire. To follow their bliss, as Campbell would say (and my Godfather would often quote).

How do we check in with their compass?

Pay attention.

Ask questions.

Seek feedback from peers and mentors, as different relationships will bring out different aspects of your child, and other perspectives will round out your own.

What you are looking for is whether your child is curious, interested and engaged in the material, work and relationships they are presented with.

If they are not, it doesn't mean bail, it means to check in with the compass and the map and see where the value in continuing lies.

If there's no value in pursuing the current course of work or play, then re-direct. If it's agreed that there is value in continuing, then it's a decision aligned with the deep, inner compass of your child's soul.

Somewhere in between, learning and joy are balanced with challenge and growth. And we all find our way eventually.

Cheers,

Craig

Are You a Responsible Parent?

Today I took Corrina to African Dance class. I like that the head instructor is a brilliant artist and Jungian analyst. She is one of the "Tribe" I've woven around Corrina to help educate her soul.

Afterward we came home to clean the kitchen. We took turns scrubbing and washing all the surfaces, and you know the drill...

She turns to me all full of attitude about why she has to do all these chores, cook lunch (eggs and beans), and blah, blah, blah. "But I don't WANNA do all this..."

Well, this set me off. I certainly don't wanna do it. But we're human beings, and we have to eat to live. Which means we have to cook. Which means we need food, money, income, etc... Which I pretty much take care of, so it's only fair that she help out in other ways.

I took the opportunity to explain how it would be irresponsible of me as her father to let her grow up playing video games instead of practicing life-skills. After all, we've invested tens-of-thousands of dollars in her education at Montessori. The first 3 years they do a LOT of table washing and cleaning up their work. There's a reason. It's important. And she can help, so she should. It's part of being on the team. Eating on a regular basis. Sleeping in a warm abode. Stuff like that.

From there we got into a discussion of children in historical contexts. I told her if she lived on a farm she'd be up before dawn milkin cows and swiping eggs from the hen house for breakfast. She'd be working HARD, and she'd be lucky to have time to play, let alone all these toys.

I try to reference other contexts so she can appreciate how good she's got it. Some day I'd like to take her to Haiti or Ghana so she sees the value of a grain of rice and a drop of clean water. This life is too precious to waste in a fantasy world fueled by media and video games. These are cool. I enjoy them too. But they don't blind me to the reality of our global situation.

Are you a responsible parent? What does this mean to you in the 21st Century?

Craig