Proud Parents Please Share

[gueli]

This is not a new baby thread.

I was wondering if other parents would share some of the moments that make a parent feel proud. Or just even some of the joy or laughter that a child has brought.

My most recent story (to make a long story long)...
My DD is 7. She takes kung fu, and has been doing so for about 3 years. When we started, we felt it would be good for her self esteem, physical conditioning and provide her with some sort of self defense if she needed it. We managed to find a school that we were happy with (Green Cloud Kung Fu) that had a fantastic teacher who seems to have a gift with the kids (Some have called Tristan the "child whisperer" - oh and as an additional comment, he even teaches some autistic kids- one mother in talking to my DW said it was the one thing her austic child looked foward too...but anyway).
As is typical with any thing - DD has had her ups and downs- misbehaving in class and not be allowed to participate (down) to getting to her next belt level (Up). For the past 2 months or so she had a down period, but finally started to pull out of it.
This past saturday she had achieved enough that she was ready to be tested for her next belt. Now I work overnights, but we had talked about & decided that I would go - with one hour of sleep (Mom was working, normally her uncle took her saturdays).
So we get there and her teacher Tristan decides that she should help him lead the class through the workout. I was thinking that he had a master stroke of genius- because DD always seems to shine in front of an audience.
Well, she gets up in front of the class and does everything perfectly. She pauses long enough to make sure the entire class has done the pushup/situp/squat, etc (I watched her as she looked to make sure). Her teacher was so happy with her. She recieved major props after doing this. After the warmups, she did everything as hard as she could- if she made a mistake, she corrected herself and redid the form properly without any prompting.
At the end, She did her 20 Pushups perfectly !!!
Tristan explains to her that the belt for the next level had not come in, yet, so would she mind if he gave her a temporary one- Purple.
Now Purple is DD favorite color . You can only imagine how she smiled and lit up. What a wonderful moment captured in my memory (and a pic also for mom).
Knowing she tried her best, and had one of her best classes ever made me feel soo proud.

What a great day.
Thank you for listening, and please add some stories of your own.
Mike

[buzznwoodysmom]

Yes, we have struggled for the past 2 years with DS and ADD issues. We've even had him evaluated for Asperger's (sp?) syndrome. He hasn't made A-B honor roll since the first half of 1st grade. This last 9 weeks was his 3rd quarter of this year, he's in 3rd grade now, and he made honor roll. We were so proud of him for this accomplishment. I know for lots of parents this doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but for any parent who struggles with ADD and learning difficulties, this is huge.

Also my youngest made me proud yesterday. Our little neighbor, 10 years old, got hit in the eye with the ball at his baseball game. He has a huge black eye. When we told DS7 about it he went find his "best" baseball card and went next door to give it to his friend to make him feel better. It was a great feeling knowing that we are instilling caring values in our kids.

[MNNHFLTX]

What a nice thread! As busy as life is, sometimes we parents need to stop and remember all the good things our kids do. My son (16) has grown into a wonderful young man. I am most proud of how personable and caring he is to other people. He never fails to hug his grandparents (when we see them) and tell them he loves them. And the other day I saw him going outside with his baseball glove in hand. Apparently he saw that the next door neighbor's 7-year-old was out there, tossing a baseball around on his own, so he went outside to play catch with him.

[meldan98]

My ODD has been in gymnastics since she was 3, and has moved up quite quickly through the different levels. She is currently the youngest in the K3 class, by almost a year. She's 5. Anyway, one of the things that they have to do every week is attempt to climb a rope that is hanging down freely from the ceiling. Every week, Abby only makes it up half way. She was the only one not climbing the rope. On Saturday, she climbed the rope all the way to the ceiling and rang the bell! I was so proud of her!

[elmjimmlm]

I had a very proud moment with my younger DS...His teacher told me that he was on the playground with his class and one of the other students got mad and said Oh My God...When he heard this he went up to the student and asked him if he knew who Jesus was and he said no...My little boy who doesnt really talk that much about this himself, witnessed to this boy and told him about Jesus and how it was wrong to take the Lords name in vain... I couldn't be more proud...It just lets me know that he is listening and understanding...

[Ian]

I'm easy ... my kids make me proud every day. I get the most pleasure from them out of the little things. Watching the two of them playing nicely together (although it doesn't happen as much as I would like), listening to them laugh and giggle, watching my son's vocabularly continue to grow, watching as my daughter's love of reading develops just like her Dad's did, sitting down with my son to watch sports (even at 2 he freaks out over any sporting event), and, of course, hearing my daughter's teacher praise her for being so well-behaved and such a wonderful student.

My kids are just a constant source of joy and pride for me. They really are.

Like I said ... I'm easy!

[Diznee4Me]

My DD is about to turn 18 and even though we have butt heads in the past few years (an over protective, stubborn father - a very independant and stubborn daughter! ) she is the light of my life.

She has been working at a retirement home for nearly a year and a half, has kept her grades up and is about to start college. She is smart, polite and has a big heart.

The DW and I are so proud of her and see such potential in the woman she will become.

Wow - I think I am teary eyed.

[TiggerD]

I am the proud parent of two wonderful boys. They are all grown up now and have lives of their own,my oldest married his high school sweetheart 9 yrs ago and has given us two wonderful grandchildren whom we adore. Our youngest has been married for 5 yrs and is expecting his first child, a boy, in July and his nursery is being done in VINTAGE DISNEY. I am proud of the fact that our children like to spend time with us, we go on vacations together, visit often with each other, and they call and check on us all the time. Family is important to us and being able to share a lot of wonderful moments with our sons and their families is a wonderful thing. Next trip to WDW in September and our oldest son and his family are joining us for some more family moments to make memories of...

[Hayden's Dad]

Every day Hayden was here I was proud of him and I still am. When he said Mama for the first time, even more when he said DaDa, his first smile, his first time meeting Mickey, when he surpassed all the doctors prognosis, when he fought pnemonia with no medicine for a month and a half, when HE took mommy and daddy to Disney World, whenever he squeezed my pinky, when he saw Santa without needing his oxygen, when he got his mommy and daddy's attention so we would be with him when it was time for him to go home....

[DisneyDog]

My DS6 is a very smart, very affectionate and very caring little guy. But he does have a bit of trouble sitting still. This past Saturday we went to visit some family. They have a 1 /2 year old little girl. We hadn't seen her since September. I was so proud of my DS who played so nicely with the baby, being very gentle and even sat down with her and read her a book. It warmed my heart to see the two cousins sitting together like that.

A few weeks ago, my co-worker's mother went to DS's class because she does "Art goes to school." I told DS that "Miss Sandy's mom" would be there. At the start of art class, he ran up to her, introduced himself/reminded her of who he is, and gave her a big hug in front of the whole class. I saw her the next week and she told me that it made her day and couldn't believe how sweet he is. I told her that he came home talking about her and he said "she is so, so, so special!" Well, she looked like she was floating on air when she heard what he said about her. He is such a sweet boy!

[gueli]

Every day Hayden was here I was proud of him and I still am. When he said Mama for the first time, even more when he said DaDa, his first smile, his first time meeting Mickey, when he surpassed all the doctors prognosis, when he fought pnemonia with no medicine for a month and a half, when HE took mommy and daddy to Disney World, whenever he squeezed my pinky, when he saw Santa without needing his oxygen, when he got his mommy and daddy's attention so we would be with him when it was time for him to go home....

Well said. Thanks for sharing.