StoryCorps: Maya Leonard Cahn and Michael Cahn

From: StoryCorps
Series: StoryCorps
Length: 01:59

Michael Cahn talks to his daughter Maya Leonard-Cahn about being a parent. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: StoryCorps: Maya Leonard Cahn and Michael Cahn
From: StoryCorps

Cahn_240x240_prx_small Michael Cahn and one of his four daughters, Maya came to StoryCorps in Eugene, Oregon to record an interview. At the time of the recording, Maya was about to get married and start a family of her own.

Here, she asks her father to tell her what he had learned about being a parent.

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Piece Description

Michael Cahn and one of his four daughters, Maya came to StoryCorps in Eugene, Oregon to record an interview. At the time of the recording, Maya was about to get married and start a family of her own.

Here, she asks her father to tell her what he had learned about being a parent.

Broadcast History

NPR's Morning Edition 10.9.09

Transcript

MC: My dad was a pretty serious alcoholic and my mom kept a low profile and just tried to survive and... You know, I remember feeling somewhat lost. I wanted to be a very different kind of parent.

MLC: And parenting four girls--did you ever imagine that?

MC: I never imagined it but when guy friends would say to me, well, don't you want a boy? I used to say to them, No because I had such a bad experience as a boy that it kind of scares me to be a male role model for a boy. So, I was real happy to have girls and still am.

MLC: How do you think parenting has changed you?

MC: It changed me from the moment my children came onto this earth. Catching you as you emerged onto this world, cutting your umbilical cord, you know, washing you off, was the highest high I think I could ever experience although when you and I walk down the aisle, I know I'm probably going to cry for a week. You k...
Read the full transcript