L to R Jennifer Valentyne, Adam Novak, Eric Novak
Like most parents, when one of my children is given a project or assignment from school to work on, I try to help. And like many parents I find myself at times getting caught up in the assignment and the end result is that I perhaps go beyond what was initially expected.
Such was the case recently when my eldest son Adam, who is 10 and in Grade 5 was given an assignment by his teacher which involved him coming up with and creating a series of questions that could be asked if he were to interview a “celebrity”. The general idea would then be for my son to interview a classmate who would role-play and pretend to be the celebrity that my son decided to select. However when I found out about the assignment, I then asked if my son would be interested in actually interviewing a celebrity instead.
His initial reaction surprised me a bit, but also impressed me. He said it sounds fun but wanted to check with his teacher first to see if actually interviewing a celebrity would be okay. Not surprisingly she said it would be great if he could, so with that I began to think of who I could ask.
I don’t know any Top 40 music artists, so that would be out. I know a rather large amount of political figures at both the local, provincial and federal level but my son is 10, and I know that wouldn’t fly. I then thought about some of the local TV personalities I’ve gotten to know over the years and then I thought of my friend Jennifer Valentyne, who for over 20 years has been part of the Breakfast Television crew, the #1 televised morning show in Toronto. I’ve known Jennifer since her and I were part of the KEY 590 Cash Car Crew back in the early ’90’s when I was just finishing my Radio & TV Arts degree from Ryerson University and she was trying to get into media while at the same time being a member of the Toronto Argonauts cheerleaders.
Since my son regularly watches BT with me, he knew who Jennifer was and when I mentioned her name, he said “I’ve always wanted to meet her, so that would be awesome”. With that endoresement in hand I reached out to Jennifer is she’d be agreeable. I wasn’t surprised at all when she gladly said yes, since that’s just the type of person she is and with that secured we only needed to work on logistics.
We agreed to meet her at a Live Eye broadcast in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto who were celebrating their 100th anniversary and were promoting their annual Bowl for Kids Sake. It was awesome for me as well since I myself was once a Little Brother and believe very strongly in the organization. I’ve spoken publicly before about how my Big Brother changed my life after only knowing him for 2 weeks, and unexpectedly Jennifer asked me to be a part of a segment. It was great to take part but once the broadcast was done it was time for Adam to interview Jennnifer:
I honestly didn’t know what to expect from Adam. I know he is an outgoing sort, but I also know he can be shy. What I recorded and witness though totally blew me away. While a bit slow at first, he quickly was engaging with Jennifer, asking questions and partaking in general banter that even many adult interviewers don’t seem to do right. He even found the opportunity at the end to ask if she’d ride a roller coaster with him at some point in the future. I was so proud of him at that moment for I saw a skill set that I wasn’t completely aware he had.
Just yesterday his teacher played the video in front of the class and the result was a smashing success. His teacher saw in him what I discovered and it just made me even more proud than I already was.
If there is a reason for me sharing this, other than simply boasting about my son as any proud parent would I guess its to demonstrate the value of being involved and engaged with your children when it comes to things like their education. By actively participating with him and helping on this assignment, we participated in father/son bonding, I discovered more about his skills, I revelled with pride at his success and he received an outstanding grade on the project.
If that isn’t a win/win/win result as a parent, than I don’t know what else is.
Leave a Reply