Can I Brag On My Kids for Just a Second?

I don't do this often, but if you'll humor me, I want to brag on my own kids for a minute here. After all, this is my blog, and I can write what I want to. Megan and I live with two incredibly cool humans, and it'd be a shame not to mention that at some point.

As a parent, it's easy to take credit when things go well and shrug our shoulders when life isn't meeting our expectations. We want to take more credit than we deserve when raising kids. My wife and I were both only children. However, having two different kids has taught us that God has gifted each of them with different skills and talents that our parenting methods have no control over. We can only lean into what their giftings appear to be and hope both Campbell and Ford make good decisions.

While Megan and I draw boundaries and set examples, it's ultimately the kids' decision on how they'll act on them. So far, I've been impressed.

Campbell. Daddy's Little Girl.

Our first born and 100% daddy's girl, her wisdom exceeds her years here on earth. Campbell may be the most empathetic and emotionally intelligent person I have ever met. I don't mean for her age either - ever. She has a gift for understanding how people feel and why they may act out in ways they do that honestly astounds me. If more adults had the same level of empathy she did, the world would 100% be a better place. She's only eight years old, and I genuinely feel like I can ask her for advice on (almost) anything.

The kid is also a hugger too. She gives the best hugs. Even when we go to a school function, all of her friends run up to her, asking for a hug. Her grandaddy and I are both huggers - so it's hereditary.

She also understands her own emotional boundaries well too. Campbell can articulate how she feels better than most adults and tell us when she needs "introvert time." She takes on how other people feel so much that it puts weight on her. She needs that alone time to get her energy back. I get that - and am proud that she knows that about herself too.

Campbell is also highly creative. She has a quick wit for someone her age and extremely creative. We've had breakfasts before school in the morning where she'll ask for some construction paper and scissors, and then - boom - she's created an origami-like snow fox. I can't do that sort of thing now. Cam has even started a story series on a marshmallow kingdom that has genuinely made Megan and me laugh out loud. She's so funny and clever.

But genuinely creative. Campbell loves art and her art teacher. We ran into her art teacher from school at a neighborhood dive one night, and she told us about a note Campbell gave her that she has been hanging by her desk to this day. It was a list of art project suggestions to make class more fun. Bold but creative for someone not even in third grade. Campbell's actual art talent is great, too - this painting below was displayed in the world's busiest airport for most of the year last year. I told her more people probably walked by her painting during that time than the impressionist paintings in the High Museum. She's quite impressive.

Campbell’s cherry blossom painting that was chosen to hang in Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in 2024.

I also appreciate Campbell's bravery. She took it upon herself to ask me to sign her up for basketball this year. When she first started, she was afraid to catch a ball and couldn't dribble more than a couple of times in a row.

That didn't stop her.

She and I played together in the driveway and on the courts of a park near our house to get more comfortable with the ball, to not be afraid, and to lean into what she was good at. Campbell is taller than most kids her age right now and played in a co-ed league. Most 7-8-year-old boys aren't going to pass the ball to a girl, so I told her to lean into what she could control: defense.

By the end of the year, she played mean defense. He wasn't afraid of anyone and very rarely got scored on. She wasn't prolific on offense, but was she a difference maker on the defensive end of the floor. She went from having a meltdown at practice to being a hard-nosed defender. Her team even went from losing games by double digits to winning their league title.

Her perseverance and bravery this past year was inspiring. The one thing that stuck out most to me, as a dad, was an evening after her first practice. Cam was having a hard time with playing and understanding the coaches' instructions. She was in tears, a good chunk of that practice. I didn't let her or encourage her to quit - I just told her she could do it, and I believed in her. She walked up to me, gave me a huge "Campbell hug," and said, "Thank you so much for being supportive tonight."

That meant more to me as a dad than anything that happened the rest of the season.

Watching Campbell's growth, whether it's fighting on the basketball court or growing in her own maturity as a human, has been inspiring. Campbell also loves reading her Action Bible, praying for friends in need, and even writing her own short worship song. Campbell is also a fantastic big sister, cheering on her little brother, taking care of him, and being his protector on the playground at school. I love that girl so much.

Campbell Hawkins is one of the coolest people I know.

But she also has a very cool little brother, even if she won't admit it herself.

Ford the Dude

Campbell stores her energy. Ford burns his as fast as he can and crashes hard. Moderation is a stranger to this boy. He goes hard into anything he does and never halfway does anything. Ford is high energy but not in a bad way - he's also brilliant and apparently knows how to turn that on-and-off well at school.

It's good that he loves soccer as much as he does. It is the perfect sport for someone as focused and disciplined but also as high-energy as him. Ford isn't very big for his age, but he's fast and intense, making soccer an ideal outlet.

The boy isn't just a fan - he's truly a student of the sport. Ford impresses me with how much he knows about the game during his short time being involved with it. He loves to play, has a ball attached to his foot most of the time at the house, and watches YouTube videos of old soccer highlights as soon as he walks into the house from school. He knows the career paths of most players, understands the game way better than I do, and is a ton of fun to take to an Atlanta United game.

He's also a very talented player. I'll never have as big of a high as a dad as I did the first game I ever saw him play. We went to the field, where I hoped he would just have fun.

He ended up dominating the game.

I had no idea he was any good at it but learned on-the-fly just as everyone else watching did. He was good, but not because of talent - he just tried hard. Ford has so much joy playing the game. It's a huge thrill when you see your kid come alive from the inside out, doing something they love while also succeeding at it. It took me up until high school to get there with an activity. I'm honestly jealous he appears to have found his "thing" so quickly.

For Ford to lock into something as soon as he has is a true blessing. We never push him or make him do extra at home. If anything, Megan and I will hold him back. He'd play way more if we let him. We just don't want him to burn out. We want to avoid taking something he genuinely loves and turning it into a burden. He's way too young for that.

I put together a short clip of his first calendar year of soccer, starting from his first game to the end of 2024. The boy has a bright future ahead of him if he keeps working. If nothing else, he's found something that helps him build friendships and stay out of trouble. Either scenario is a win to me.

While athletic, Ford is also wicked smart. Honestly, he doesn't give that vibe on a first impression. But he's in his school's gifted program and won an award this past week for being the top math student in his entire grade. The boy is comically literal in nature - everything is black and white to him. So, it makes sense that math is his strong suit.

He can't tell you what he did an hour ago, but Ford memorizes anything with a number attached to it. He knows the entire number and roster of the Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta United. He knows the career paths of many Premier League soccer players. He knows how many goals he's scored in a season.

What's the most important is that the kid has a huge heart. I was fighting Delta to get flights booked for a summer trip, and he saw I was getting mad. He came over to me in the heat of my frustration and hugged me, saying, "It's okay, Daddy."

Ford's teacher even told us about his attitude at recess this year. When the boys play soccer, and someone falls or gets hurt, he makes everyone stop the game from making sure that person is okay before playing anymore. For someone who gets hit in games as much as he does (and he does...), he does a great job of looking out for other people.

Ford's insane, but he has a huge brain and a huge heart - and uses both well. He proactively prays for people who need help and ensures we sing "Jesus loves me" before he sleeps. The boy has a good head on his shoulders. I pray he keeps that spirit.

The kids are only in first and second grade. They are going to change quite a bit. Ford may wake up and hate soccer one day. Campbell may decide art isn't for her. We'll have to accept that.

What I do know is that God made them each unique. Both are unique from each other but also unique from Megan and myself. While they may share some traits as us, they are their humans on their unique paths. My only hope is to be a great cheerleader for their lives and not compare them to other kids or my life experience.

I can't wait to see what they get into next.