PROMPT

My Favorite Topic

A 15 minute extemporaneous speech

If you asked me for an impromptu speech, I would choose one of the topics closest to my heart, the joy and privilege of parenting. It’s understandably the hardest, but as people say, the most rewarding job in the world.

How would I structure it?

First, I would not discuss child development, nutrition, or how to succeed in school, topics you can research easily.

Rather, I would focus on time as well as the goal of parenting.

Even though there will be sleepless nights and moments that seem to drag on forever, time seems to evaporate.

Too quickly, infancy, childhood, and teen years collapse into memories. Your role as full-time parent will be over if you have done your job well.

The ‘take away’ would be to highlight the goals of parenting:

to infuse your children with gratitude and compassion: teach them to embrace problems as opportunities, to live with an attitude of ‘what’s next?” instead of fearing life, and to think beyond themselves.

And don’t be helicopter parents. Your goal is to teach independence and self-sufficiency, which they learn only through experience.

Teach your children to be independent, self-sufficient, caring and compassionate stewards of this world.

I have a feeling I would talk more than fifteen minutes.