Posted on Jun 19, 2021
Dad Draws On Maori Roots To Raise 3 Resilient Sons. Step 1: Send Them On A Milk Run
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https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/06/19/ [login to see] /dad-draws-on-maori-roots-to-raise-3-resilient-sons-step-1-send-them-on-a-milk-ru
When it comes to raising resilient children, Jeff Nelligan knows more than a thing or two. He's raised three sons, dripping with hustle and composure. One of them is a senior at West Point, another graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and the third from Williams College, where he played lacrosse. "I've raised three bad asses," Nelligan says bluntly (as he does often). "I hate to say it that way, but these kids have the ability to get over adversity, and that's resilience."
Nelligan himself comes from a long-line of resilient women. "My great-grandmother is Maori," he says. "She left New Zealand when she was 14 [by herself]. After she got on her two feet, he says, she ran a restaurant in Los Angeles. "Her daughter — my grandmother — was born almost 100 percent deaf. She was confident, and she made it through adversity. That's our family's storyline. We don't take things too hard. We let things roll off the back, so to speak," says Nelligan, who writes about Maori affairs and has a law degree from Georgetown University.
When it comes to raising resilient children, Jeff Nelligan knows more than a thing or two. He's raised three sons, dripping with hustle and composure. One of them is a senior at West Point, another graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and the third from Williams College, where he played lacrosse. "I've raised three bad asses," Nelligan says bluntly (as he does often). "I hate to say it that way, but these kids have the ability to get over adversity, and that's resilience."
Nelligan himself comes from a long-line of resilient women. "My great-grandmother is Maori," he says. "She left New Zealand when she was 14 [by herself]. After she got on her two feet, he says, she ran a restaurant in Los Angeles. "Her daughter — my grandmother — was born almost 100 percent deaf. She was confident, and she made it through adversity. That's our family's storyline. We don't take things too hard. We let things roll off the back, so to speak," says Nelligan, who writes about Maori affairs and has a law degree from Georgetown University.
Dad Draws On Maori Roots To Raise 3 Resilient Sons. Step 1: Send Them On A Milk Run
Posted from npr.org
New Zealand
USMA
USNA
Georgetown University
Los Angeles
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PROUD DADDY!
My son's mom was a teacher, my mom was a teacher, my dad was a teacher. My brother still is a teacher. OK, I think it's the toughest job in America. Teachers are a great class of individuals. My life has been totally transformed by teachers. So have my sons' lives.
But you write that you weren't excited about your son wanting to become a teacher. You responded by driving the boys into a less-prestigious neighborhood and telling them that this is where they might live if they make a teachers' salary – which is also a statement about how our culture values teachers as well.
The fact is, teachers aren't often paid well. That was my point, and it's the financial aspect of it. If he had said I want to be an archaeologist, I would have done the same thing.
So I didn't mean to take aim at teachers on that portion of it. I was trying to explain to them the consequence of choosing a career in which your earning power is lower. I was taking aim at that idea. When you're a kid in 10th grade, you don't know those consequences.
My son's mom was a teacher, my mom was a teacher, my dad was a teacher. My brother still is a teacher. OK, I think it's the toughest job in America. Teachers are a great class of individuals. My life has been totally transformed by teachers. So have my sons' lives.
But you write that you weren't excited about your son wanting to become a teacher. You responded by driving the boys into a less-prestigious neighborhood and telling them that this is where they might live if they make a teachers' salary – which is also a statement about how our culture values teachers as well.
The fact is, teachers aren't often paid well. That was my point, and it's the financial aspect of it. If he had said I want to be an archaeologist, I would have done the same thing.
So I didn't mean to take aim at teachers on that portion of it. I was trying to explain to them the consequence of choosing a career in which your earning power is lower. I was taking aim at that idea. When you're a kid in 10th grade, you don't know those consequences.
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