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There’s a new baby in the family!
After years of doctor appointments and prayers, my brother and his wife were blessed with a healthy, beautiful baby boy on Feb. 20. This is a dream come true for the new parents and our family couldn’t be more thrilled. Baby Chase is the first baby in our immediate family in 20 years and, if my parents were still with us, Chase would have been their only grandson among their five grandchildren.
Over the last few months, my brother and I have spent a great deal of time talking about family. We reminisced about our parents and the family we grew up in. (Of course, I was the favorite among the four of us!) We also talked about my daughters and the family my wife and I raised and, naturally, he shared the hopes and dreams he and my sister-in-law have for their new family.
At 46 years old, my brother’s excitement and emotions are beyond words. Suddenly, as a new parent, he realized the significance of what Michael J. Fox once said, “Family isn’t an important thing. It’s everything!”
At the United Way of Wyoming Valley, while our focus is on childhood poverty, we have always recognized that for children to do well, families must do well.
The family is the single most important factor and is the biggest influence in a child’s development. This influence could be positive when parents, grandparents, and others invest time and love into the relationships with children; or, the influence could be negative if there is abuse, neglect, indifference, or the presence of adverse childhood experiences.
There is no more important role than being a parent. From their very first moments, children will look to their parents to comfort and protect them and to provide for their needs. Parenting is a full-time job and, as all parents experience, it could often be stressful, and, occasionally, scary, but nothing is more rewarding.
Parents are a child’s first and most important teachers. They transform lives and shape the future. What parents do matters more than what parents say. Children will use their parents’ actions as a guide to experience and make sense of the world around them.
Every day, with the support of our donors, volunteers, and partners, the United Way of Wyoming Valley is helping to strengthen families. Much of our work and community investments are aimed at helping children by helping and supporting parents and families. Early childhood care, home visitation programs, financial counseling, initiatives that support school readiness and academic achievement, and other programs, help at-risk families improve the odds of success for their child’s future.
Parenting and family life can be messy at times and there is no such thing as a perfect parent, or a perfect child (despite what my mother said about me). We are all humans and our lives can be complicated and sometimes chaotic. Yet, when families are strong, kids will do better.
My brother and sister-in-law are now just taking on the most important job they will ever have … as parents. While I am looking forward to seeing how my brother handles the dirty diapers, I am also looking forward to meeting my new nephew and telling Chase how blessed he is to be part of a family who will always love him unconditionally.
Indeed, family is everything.