ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- After weeks and months of digesting stressful stories about Ukraine, Gaza, redistricting games in Texas and California and the Trump administration's takeover of Democratic-run cities in service of a right-wing agenda, I needed a break.

So I took one. It lasted just long enough for me to consume a different sort of media. And, as I savored my last bite, imagine my surprise when I realized that I had learned just as much -- if not more -- from the respite than I had from that avalanche of bad news.

All thanks to a blast of T & T -- Taylor and Travis. In case you haven't heard, Taylor Swift (global superstar, singer, musician and songwriter) and Travis Kelce (Kansas City Chiefs tight end, Super Bowl winner and likely future NFL Hall of Fame inductee) have been dating since 2023.

Swift recently appeared on the "New Heights" podcast hosted by Kelce and his brother, Jason (a retired Philadelphia Eagle center and another likely future NFL Hall of Fame inductee). More than 10 million people tuned in, including me.

What interests so many people about this high-voltage couple isn't the resumes. It's the romance, the shared affection and admiration we see between two people who seem remarkably normal and down-to-earth.

I've become a fan of this pairing. You could say, I love this love story.

Nevertheless, I did not have on my bingo card for this year that Swift and Kelce, neither of whom have children, would -- by example -- teach me something that would make me a better parent.

I've had that gig for 20 years. It's the best job in the world, and also one of the trickiest. It's so easy to make mistakes, and so hard to strike the perfect balance. Also, the stakes couldn't be higher. Long after you've gone to your rest, your children will advertise to the world what kind of job you did in raising them based on how they live their lives, how they conduct themselves and how they treat others.

As former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis used to say: "If you mess up the raising of your kids, nothing else you accomplish in life will matter much."

Now that my own kids are teenagers and young adults (20, 18, 16), I know this much: Parenthood unfolds in seasons. When your kids are toddlers, you worry about protecting them and putting food on the table. When they're teenagers, you think about the values you want to teach them and the kind of people you want them to be; I always told my three kids I wanted them to be "ful": grateful, thankful and helpful. And when they're old enough to start dating -- which will be about 80 for my daughters -- you start thinking how important it is that they choose the right partner and become the right person for their partner.

I have a tried-and-true formula that has worked for me and for a good many of my luckier male friends. See, what you do is go find someone who is superior to you in every way -- smarter, kinder, stronger, more attractive, a better person, etc. And then once you find this special someone who is totally out of your league, you must do everything you can to somehow convince her to take a chance on you.

You know who I bet can relate to all this? Travis Kelce. No doubt he would agree that he got the better end of the bargain.

In the last few days, I've heard from a lot of the women who tuned into the podcast. They appreciate that the Kelce brothers didn't just share the spotlight with Swift. They handed it over to her. A lot of what I heard came back to me when I read a posting on Facebook from a woman who identified herself as "Echo."

She wrote: "I think if all young men watched the Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift podcast, it could actually cure the 'male loneliness epidemic.' He pursued her. He didn't think he was the prize. He knew she was. He's silly and affectionate with her. He compliments her, and puts on a pedestal. He genuinely admires her, and thinks she's the greatest person on the planet. ... If you're looking for a blueprint, this is it."

My advice to my son: Do this -- and more. What I would tell my daughters: Don't settle for anything less.

What do you know about that? Sometimes you gain more from the break than you do from the work.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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