Share Your Time with Your Children

Teens don't want to be seen with their parents, much less talk to them or do anything with them.

青少年不愿被人看见与父母在一起，更不愿与他们交谈或一起做任何事。

That's what we hear all the time.

那是我们一直听到的。

I don 't believe it. Oh, sure, when my daughter and my son were in their teens, they wanted to spend most of their free time with their friends.

但是我不相信。当然，当我的女儿和儿子十几岁的时候，他们大部分的业余时间都想和他们的朋友一起度过。

But there were always those special times planned when we enjoyed being alone with each other, when we connected deeply, and when we were reminded again how much we loved one another.

但是，当我们享受独处的时光，当我们紧密相连的时候，当我们再次想起我们有多爱对方的时候，总会有一些计划好的特殊时刻。

I recall how delighted my 14-year-old daughter, Alisa, felt when I asked her for a date to see a movie.

在我带着14岁的女儿艾丽莎去看电影的时候，我还记得她有多开心。

It was a bittersweet Italian movie, Cinema Paradiso,

它是一部苦中带乐的意大利电影，片名为《天堂电影院》，

and I wanted this story to give her a sense of how I grew up as an Italian boy in a small town, where life was simple and where everyone knew one another.

但愿能让她了解我在意大利男孩小镇长大的故事，了解那里简单的生活，大家互相了解。

I wanted her to know how her father had been brought up and shaped.

我希望她知道她的父亲是如何长大的。

We both laughed and cried during the same scenes in the movie.

由于电影中同样的场景，我们大哭起来。

他痴迷于这部电影。为了结束我们的夜晚，我们应该在周围的一家面包店谈论一些有趣的事情。

I told her the movie was now so much more special for me because I had shared it with her.

我告诉她，因为我和她一起看了这部电影，现在对我来说更特别了。

She smiled. She understood. We made a memory that night.

他笑了，也明白了。那天晚上我们留下了难忘的回忆。

From our living room window, I saw my 13-year-old son, Jason, tearfully searching our vegetable garden for a place to bury his pet.

透过客厅的窗户，我看见我13岁的儿子杰森在大家的菜园里泪流满面地找到了一个埋葬他宠物的地方。

Every pet he owned — lizards（蜥蜴）, fish, or hamsters（仓鼠） — had died.

每只宠物——蜥蜴、鱼或仓鼠——都死了。

I was at his side as we searched for the best gravesite. We dug the grave, said our goodbyes and then he cried.

当我们寻找最合适的地方时，我就在他身边。我们挖好坟墓，说再见，然后他哭了。

He cried hard and he asked me why every pet he had owned died so soon.

他哭得很厉害，问我为什么他养的每只宠物都这么快就死了。

I could feel his heart break against my chest. I just held him close.

在我胸前，我能感觉到他的心碎了。我只是紧紧地抱着他。

He let me hold his aching soul. He needed me while he was confused.

他让我拥抱他痛苦的灵魂。迷茫的时候他想要我。

Share your heart with your teens. Show them repeatedly that you know and love who they really are.

There are tender memories waiting to be made.

亲切的回忆等着你们一起去创造。