The Power of Acceptance

The other day, my son Christopher said to me, “Mommy, you should ask Dwyane Wade to write for your Sunday Paper and share the story about how his family is handling his child’s transition. It’s super cool and inspiring.”

My son is a basketball fanatic, but he’s also one of the wisest, most empathic individuals I’ve ever met. When he was little, people would always marvel at his empathy, his kindness, and his loving nature. They would congratulate me for raising a young man like him, to which I always replied: “Thank you, but I had nothing to do with it! He was just born that way!” And that’s the truth.

One of the many lessons I’ve learned as a parent is that we only have so much influence over who our children become. They are each born with unique traits, interests, and personalities, and it is our job to pay attention to those qualities, and to work to love and guide them toward becoming the best versions of themselves. The key word being themselves. Not who we as parents may want them to be, but who they are as human beings.