By Cheryl Bac
E-mail Cheryl Bac
About this blog: I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, home cook, marathon runner, and PhD. I recently moved to the Silicon Valley after completing my PhD in Social Psychology and becoming a mother one month apart. Before that, I ran seven marathons incl...
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About this blog: I'm a wife, stay-at-home mom, home cook, marathon runner, and PhD. I recently moved to the Silicon Valley after completing my PhD in Social Psychology and becoming a mother one month apart. Before that, I ran seven marathons including Chicago and Boston. Exercise is an integral part of my life. I hope to one day go back to long distance running and tackle the New York City Marathon. Right now I run after my one year old son. Although I am a stay-at-home mom, we are rarely "at home." My mom also stayed at home with my brother and me. She warned me that, although rewarding, it can be isolating. So, with her help, I learned the importance of getting out into the community and meeting other mothers. On the rare occasion when I am at home and have a hand or two free, I squeeze in time to scrapbook. As a new mom, many challenges are thrown my way. I hope my opinions, triumphs, and struggles help experienced parents reminisce, new parents cope, and parents-to-be get an honest glimpse of what the first years of motherhood can entail.
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This year, our family filled up Father's Day weekend with soccer. With both Copa America and Euro 2016, soccer has taken up a large part of our summer so far. And it's pretty clear that our son already has more interest in and knowledge about the sport than I do.
Sometimes I wish I was keeping up with him - learning about the teams, the players, the scores, etc. Sometimes I think I should sit on the couch more to watch the game with him. But I'm glad I'm not. He's been having a great time watching the games with his dad, who is genuinely enthusiastic about the sport. And I prefer to hear our son's recap of the games afterwards and watch him work on his own soccer skills.
After seeing how interested my husband is in soccer, our son's become more curious about my own interests. If I don't love soccer, what do I enjoy? Because of his curiosity, I've put more effort into pointing out my own interests (and previous interests). Playing Disney songs for him on my flute. Showing him a stuffed animal I got at the Boston Marathon. Singing a song I learned at summer camp. Taking him and his sister to the pool. And showing him crafts and scrapbooks I've been working on about our family. We've also started talking more about our relatives interests. How grandpa might enjoy a book about fish. And how grandma enjoyed sewing dresses for his sister's dolls.
Sometimes it's easy to get so focused on our kids interests, especially during the summer months, that we forget how curious they can be about our own.