My hustling parents

In 1966 my mother took a fairly short break from her work at an ad agency to deliver me. The same year my father started the business that was to last for the rest of his life. I love them both dearly but it has always been clear to me the world was not turned over by my birth. The earth did not cease to spinn around the sun and changed its orbit to revolve around me.

I was brought up in a very sincere and loving environment but from my first conscious moment it was obvious to me that I was a part of something, rather than its center. There is no doubt in my mind that if forced to choose my parents would have made me their top priority, but why choose when there is no real need to.

Instead they hustled their way though my childhood. They both had carriers, friends, hobbies, things to do. So my grandmother did some of the work, preschool and school did some of it. Mom and dad most certainly did their part. But they clearly managed to keep doing pretty much everything they did before, and still make me feel like the most beloved kid in the world.

Parenthood on Flickr, by ephien

And I learned to do my part as well. I learned that I’m just a piece of something bigger, and that my demands and needs are not the only demands and needs to be taken care of. I learned to give and be grateful to receive. I learned to be a good member of whatever the social crowd of the moment was. I learned to take nothing more than love from my close ones for granted, and to wait for my turn. I learned to share – both attention, care, and hardware. It was a point of view, a set of lessons that I still carry around, and that still is a large part of my character.

Now, I know there are wast cultural differences here. But if I look at my friends in Sweden entering parenthood things often look very different. Not all, but many enough to call it a changing trend, turn life upside down when a new member enters their family. It’s like nothing else matters. Which of course is a pretty silly idea. Fact is, I’m not even sure it’s a movement driven by the care for our children. At times I wonder if it’s not a bad case of indolence or even laziness.

What we in sweden call ”lattemammor och lattepappor”…

So, all you parents out there, do the whole deed. Continue to do what you did, add the spice of more life in your life, juggle to make it work, enjoy a richer life. And as an added bonus, see your kids grow up to be great hustlers to.

Den här texten skrev jag som ett (alldeles för hastigt, sorry) bidrag till 48hr magazine. Ett projekt som jag verkligen gillade, och verkligen hajpade. Men i slutänden blev jag besviken, genomförandet höll inte hela vägen ut och det blev mycket av en intern klubb, en pappersprodukt, en bristfälligt kommunicerad fest för en inre krets. Det finns mycket lärdomar att dra inför en eventuell svensk version. Som då ska vara fullt ut global, fullt ut kollaborativ, fullt ut digital (också) och fullt ut på riktigt.

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