What Your Kids Think (Carly Simon’s Dad’s Shoe Store)

When Carly Simon was a kid, she thought her dad had a shoe store. 

One day she was in the school library. One of the kids pointed at a book on the shelf and said, “Look, that’s your father.”

In her words, 

And I realized that he didn’t own a shoe store, he was Simon & Schuster.

Did you read that? Her dad was the Simon of the book publishing behemoth Simon & Schuster. Shuster – shoe store – ha. Classic.  

I spend a lot of time at work talking about passing on values to future generations. It’s not easy. Especially when there’s money involved. I mean – just look at this story, kids will barely understand what you even do, let alone what you care about them knowing. 

The value here isn’t the money or the ambivalent confusion. The value was his role. Everybody else saw Simon & Schuster. She saw Dad. You know, the guy with the shoe store. 

Life’s complex. Nobody else figures it out for you. It’s how this story fits next to “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be.”

Ps. Unironically, my Mom told me this Carly Simon story and looking it up spawned this post. Thanks