Laughing is sometimes bad as a parent

Through trial and error I have learned that I must control my laughter as a parent in some circumstances. Take this evening for example. JR was getting tired and wanted to go watch the end of a movie while laying down in my bed. Jumping up for the couch he goes running to my bedroom, only to forget that he had shut the door earlier in the evening. All I hear is "thud" and then tears. Did I see what happened? No because he wanted to get in the spirit of "Earth Hour" a couple days early and turned off all the lights. Part of me just wanted to laugh as I pictured him bouncing off the door (side note: I knew that he wasn't seriously hurt) but here I have my tired 7 year-old holding his head and crying so I knew I couldn't.

They always say that parenting is not an easy job, and I have definitely learned that over the past 7 years. However, I would not give any of it up for all the money in the world. So in the end, JR fell asleep watching the movie with Hunter (our dog) curled up beside him. It was almost as if the dog knew that JR had had a few bad moments and he wanted to make sure the JR was okay. I keep hoping that tomorrow is a better day.

Research for Public Relations: Communicating in an Environment of Risk

Research for Public Relations: Communicating in an Environment of Risk

Storytelling - An art form that is a must in PR

As I found out in a previous job, I am not a storyteller. I deal with facts, maybe focused too much in news and not enough in journalism or marketing. I could easily tell people the who, what, when, where, why and how, but without being able to provide a story for them I was unable to influence their thoughts and opinions. While I tried to become more of a storyteller, the situation just went right over my head.

Now as I am studying the art of storytelling in my Strategic Writing and Messaging class I am starting to have one of those "a-ha" moments where what others had been telling me before is starting to make sense. I am currently reading "The Story Factor" by Annette Simmons and absolutely love it. Granted it is written well, more as a conversation than a book. Isn't that was storytelling is about? I am excited to begin trying out this new found knowledge and cannot wait to continue to learn more over the next six weeks. Who knows, maybe this will be the start of a new part of my career?