I was a business guy before a counseling/coaching guy so I find the current state of affairs in the financial industry disgusting.  I don’t believe in the talk about this being as bad as the Great Depression.  It could be worse.  We have no idea what we have wrought from our overspending, deregulating, no accountability, looking the other way, now somebody else has to fix it spree of the last couple of decades.  While we came to believe we were entitled to live beyond our means, we might now be screwed.  The bankers created the scheme but did so with eager participants sporting an insatiable appetite, living large while not even considering there might be a day of reckoning.

I liken this to what we adults (the bankers) have done to a whole generation of kids (the consumers).  Over time, the pendulum swung way too far to the laissez-faire, put them on a pedestal, kids are our most important resource, let them have anything they want insanity that has led to our present day hyper-desire, nanosecond gratification where every childish whim is met with another line of credit.  When the cash flow stops, there is the accusation of deprivation and “you just don’t understand, I need this.”  We have injured an entire generation by giving them the false reality that this could continue.

The price: a nation in yet another crisis whining that somebody better fix this.  And parents, like the testifying bankers, lying through our teeth about how we had no idea that it could ever get this bad.  Bullshit.  In families, as in economics, there is no free lunch.  Somebody has to pay.

Lately, more and more parents have been asking for the magic answer that will transform their families into peaceful and harmonious sanctuaries.  They say they are tired of the conflict, fighting and painful day to day existence.  Hmmm…

For the last two years, I’ve been going to continuing education workshops on psychopharmacology.   I keep hearing about this wonder drug, an antidepressant, which is in clinical trials and supposedly has unbelievable effectiveness with virtually no medical side effects.  I have heard some professionals argue that such a drug should not come to market.  They say its effectiveness could be so great that a person in a bad situation could take the drug, feel okay and not have the “pain” necessary to motivate them to make their situation better.  Hmmm…

So we want to raise our kids pain free but it can’t be too pain free or else we will not have the motivation to change what we are doing and how we are doing it.  Maybe we could have just a little pain (like a little discomfort), enough to get our attention but not enough to hurt too much.  But wait a second.  What if it’s not enough to really propel us to make our situation better?  Then we are just uncomfortably stuck.  Hmmm…

I’m intrigued by the connection that people make between pain and motivation and change.  The logic seems to be that if I’m in enough pain then I will change and if I have no pain then I won’t.  Taken to the absurd, being tortured is then a change agent and peace and harmony is a change killer.  Hmmm…

As for parenting and the process of change in the family, too much pain seems unnecessary and too much peace and harmony might be unwise.

Sometimes you just have to take a break, take some time out to enjoy each other and live to change another day. Be thankful that there will be other days to push the wave…

Let’s face it. Without new funding, continued funding and sustainable funding, organizations who serve kids and families cannot thrive. Too often NFPs see the revenue pie as fixed or shrinking and get into the mindset of smaller and smaller pieces. That has got to get old. It kills the spirit of good organizations and threatens the very programs that help people.

There are lots of funding streams out there, especially for creative programs that are pioneering new ways to work with families. So if you want to go after a bigger slice of the pie, I’m willing to take some risks and be a partner in your growth. Give me a call and let’s talk.