From the Publisher
Written by Randy Tierney
If you are reading this you survived the holidays, and you deserve a hearty congratulations and New Year’s toast. You faced the agony of shopping, the dangers of hanging lights, the high drama and cruelty of family gatherings, and you made it through to a new year.
The holiday season has joy, especially when it involves the little ones, but at the same time it is famously the most stressful time of the year. It can literally make you sick. A friend of mine told me, in the days leading up to Christmas that she was convinced she was getting a headache and stomachache whenever she left the house but felt fine at home. Weird, but true. I told her she was getting some sort of holiday-season agoraphobia (panic attacks in public places) when she phoned me from inside Target. She was getting sick while trying to find Miss Piggy during the short window of time she had while her daughter was in karate lessons. Turns out Miss Piggy cannot be found at Target. She cannot be found anywhere, and apparently Disney and the Henson people are playing some sort of cruel joke on parents by releasing a Muppets movie leading up to Christmas but not making Miss Piggy available as a gift for the little fans.
It’s no wonder we conclude this angst-packed season with a holiday whose primary form of celebration is drinking heavily. New Year’s is an odd observance in that way. It exists only for this reason of dousing away holiday stress…that, and as a way to recognize time passing (unlike a woman’s birthday, when it is appropriate to ignore time passing and mock the Roman calendar by fibbing about one’s age).
If you were among friends on New Year’s Eve, between champagne toasts and celebratory kissing, the chatter probably went something like, ‘Glad that 2011 is over with. I can’t wait for 2012. It’s going to be a good year. ‘
If you are really into the holiday observance thing, you might go so far as to come up with resolutions, and this practice seems to me to be as worthwhile as that of any other holiday ceremony. Personally, when I think about the passing of time, I am reminded that in only two years, my one and only son, who has been the center of my life for over 16 years, will be off to college. I don’t even know right now where he will be when he starts his freshman year, but he will not be home. I think about this from time to time—not just on New Year’s Eve—and fortunately, I can truly say that I am not one of those parents who, standing on the threshold of the empty nest, will experience the biggest regret that a parent can have: that I did not spend more time with my child when he was growing up.
Kids grow up so quickly, and the older we get the faster years fly by. The clock is relentless in this way, and you cannot turn it back to re-live those times you might have missed with your child because you were busy with work or with some other thing or some other person. If there is anything important to be learned from this odd holiday called New Year’s, it is this: you can change a lot of things in life, but you can’t turn back time, so do not squander the chances you get to spend with your children. They need you to be there as much as you need to be with them. And you do need to be with them, because for one thing, if you are there when they are young and then they leave, as they should, to make their own way in life, and you find yourself standing on the threshold of your empty nest and thinking about how you chose to spend your time, you will not have the biggest regret that a parent can have.
On behalf of our entire team at Parenting OC, we wish you and your children a happy and healthy 2012.
Sincerely,
Randall Tierney
We at Parenting OC would like to hear from you. We welcome your insights on work, life and parenting issues. We also value your opinion on our content. E-mail us or write to the address below:
172 N. Tustin St. Suite 304, Orange, CA 92867
Tel: 714-771-7454 Fax: 714-771-5852
parentingoc.com
facebook.com/parentingocmag
twitter.com/ParentingOCmag