If... Questions for Parents

Parenting. Can there be anything else in life quite as taxing, exhausting, confounding, complicated, surprising, frustrating, frightening, or unending? Or anything anywhere near as rewarding, fulfilling, enriching, intuitive, self-explanatory, revelatory, confirming, thrilling, unique, time-shortening, and wondrously joyous? It is, of course, the most profound thing we will attempt to do in life, while also being, in a very real way, the most normal. Often it just happens, without great storms of doubt or insecurity or wrenching self-examination. Somehow we wake up one day and realize that there is another life in the house. One who will depend on us for everything, from their very survival to our own wisdom. Anyone who has been a parent will have a thousand questions, most of them forgotten amid the rushed chaos of being a parent. They will also have 999 answers, usually learned from the child itself, perhaps indirectly, through a smile, a look in the eyes, the reaching hand of curiosity, the unprompted caress. Others, of course, will have been answered by experience. These questions, our fifth collection in the If... series of books, are of another kind. The questions parents might ask, or be asked, to help dive into the imagination, and explore the treasure of thoughts, opinions, and ideas resting inside every person who is, has been, or dreams of becoming a parent. They are intended to prompt contemplation, shared recollections, surprising confessions, and unexpected laughter. In the end, perhaps, we hope they also remind us of the unequaled gift that children are: one bestowed on every parent, and entirely beyond the descriptive power of words. ********** If you were going to teach your kids not to be afraid of the dark, how would you do it? If you were going to teach small children how to deal with fear, how would you do it? If you could use hypnosis to help your child with one thing, what would it be? If you had to name one suspicion that would cause you to read your child's mail or search their room, what do you think it would be? If your child could have any pet they wanted, what do you think they'd choose? If you had to name the one thing that would be hardest to take away from your child, what would it be? If you were to name the moment you felt happiest while giving something to your kid, when would it have been? If you had to name the worst compromise you can imagine having to make for the sake of having a child, what would you say?Saywell, James is the author of 'If... Questions for Parents', published 2000 under ISBN 9780375502835 and ISBN 0375502831.