Math Homework & Dad

     Ever since my kids have started school, every once in a while I get the chance to help them with their homework.  My wife takes care of that most of the time since she is in the home with them more often and I still haven't gotten home from work when they are doing their homework usually.  Sometimes though the homework is about something she isn't comfortable with or just thinks I am better at.  (Things that I am better at than her are few and far between).  In the past, helping with homework has always been easy, but now that my kids are in middle school and the oldest going into high school next year, the work has become harder.  I'm still able to help with most school assignments, but the one subject I struggled with in school was Math.  I excelled in it when I was younger but when I got into middle school myself and started on Algebra things went downhill.  I did not like Algebra.  Guess what kind of homework I got to help out with last night?  That's right....Algebra.  Yuck.  

     When I had problems with math growing up, that was the one thing my mom passed off to my dad as well.  My dad was an electrical engineer and was really good at math.  He'd explain things quickly and easily, but sometimes too quickly for me to follow.  He did not have a lot of free time with his job and his duties at church, so it was always kind of special to me when he would sit down one on one with me and help me figure something out that I was having trouble with.  I'm sure he was probably exhausted but he still took the time.  It's weird as I progress through life to see myself in some of those same roles.  I don't feel any more grown up than I was years ago, but all of a sudden here I am helping out a teenage daughter with her Algebra homework.  I think I may have even helped her get the answers right! Even stranger.  I enjoy seeing my kids learn and even though I am not nearly as knowledgeable or wise as my father was, I hope my kids learn some things (hopefully good things) from me and consider it a special moment when they get to sit with me one on one like that, just like I did with my dad.