Parent Pathways helps teen parents raise healthy families. To a large degree, that means creating healthy, nurturing relationships between mothers and their children.  That’s why my mother and I participate in their annual Run/Walk the Saturday before Mother’s Day. We’re honoring the special relationship between a mother and child and helping mothers and children who are particularly vulnerable.

For me, it’s also an opportunity to thank my own mother. Every year I participate in the event with my mom.  It gives us a chance to spend some quality time together while promoting an important cause that at its core is all about motherhood.

I’ve been very fortunate in my life to have a mother who was there for me. Growing up, I always knew that, even when I was unsure of myself, she believed in me. And, she provided a model for how to raise and nurture my own sons. 

She’s been a big part of their lives as well and now, as they go off in the world pursuing their own dreams, they have fond memories of a grandmother who believes in them.

In that sense, motherhood is the gift that keeps on giving—from generation to generation. The girls at the Florence Crittenton School understand this.  They talk about their dreams and about “breaking the cycle” so that their own children won’t face the struggles they’ve experienced in their own young lives.

So, here’s to you mom, and here’s to all mothers as we celebrate the gift that keeps on giving.

-Doug Hock

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5K Run/Walk Tributes