I do belive that children are the future of this great land. I was greatly touched by this statement by HM Pm Harper. Apparently I was not the only one impressed.
But having said that, Stephen Harper did reach me when he told a TV interviewer that his greatest life ambition is to raise happy, productive children.
To that I say: you and me both, Stephen Harper. Raising happy, productive children has to be the most important job any parent can do, even if that parent happens to be prime minister.
Maybe Stephen Harper reached me because his kids are the exact same age as my own, 15 and 12. That would certainly put us on the same section of the life train.
I think I know some of the topics that come up at his dinner table after work, the social dramas and challenges of school. My guess is that we share similar joys and moments of pride, and that our kids take up a larger part of our worry quota than people realize.
I applaud him for going public with this life’s ambition because too often the work — whether paid or unpaid — of raising the next generation of taxpayers, voters and workers gets left off the balance sheet of a nation’s health and well-being.