Family First: Winning the Parenting Game
Deloris Jordan admits that she is no expert on child rearing and that her experience is not unique but, rather, the "ordinary experience of a mother of 5 children." Yet she is aware that being Michael Jordan's mother has given her a "platform" to give back to her community and to work with children. From her experiences, she has observed children and parents who struggle with making and keeping the "family first." She uses examples of encounters as president and cofounder of the Michael Jordan Foundation, which was established to raise funds to help disadvantaged children and to stress the importance of family to child rearing in today's world. (Recently Michael announced the closing of the foundation.) Her heartfelt family examples of instances where she employed the techniques she shares are warm and genuine. Jordan stresses that some of the crucial child-rearing attitudes that she and her husband, Ray, shared include a commitment to parenting, a vision of the family's goals, communication, flexibility, and love. If Michael's soaring success is grounded in his family upbringing, then certainly Deloris Jordan's wisdom may be worth noting.Lillian Lewis