Being a parent can be a joy, a frustration, or most often, a process of alternating back and forth between the two as we navigate life. We often step in to the role with little to no preparation or first-hand knowledge of the task at hand. We are, at once, teachers and learners in our parenthood. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail, and sometimes we just make it through to the next day. As soon as we get one phase of their life down, our child enters another. Life seems to be about problem-solving a new issue every day.

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SEVENTEEN: Lessons From My Children is a collection of twenty-one vignettes; those moments when one parent failed to meet the demands of the moment in one way or another. Typically, we spend our energy as parents in providing an environment where they can safely discover and explore, or we take on actively teaching our children about the spectrum of nuances and nightmares of daily living. What this writer discovered over the years of rearing four children is that his children were often his teachers.

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Through a little humor, a little tenderness, and unexpectedly poignant moments, child and parent alike survived. And came out the other side of things a better person for it.