fbpx
  • Search

Meet Teny Gross

Today meet Teny Gross, executive director of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, local dad and panelist of the upcoming Kidoinfo Conversation, Family Traditions. Please join us on November 16th at Craftland in downtown Providence. Click here for details.

TENY GROSSKidoinfo: What neighborhood do you live in?
Teny Gross (TG): Providence Southside. South Elmwood.

Kidoinfo: Where were you born?
TG: Herzelia, Israel.

Kidoinfo: How long have you been in Rhode Island?
TG: Since August 2001.

Kidoinfo: What is your current state of mind?
TG: I feel very fortunate about my own family, and yet incredulous as to how difficult life is for so many children in this society.  We are shortchanging our future, and I feel that we cannot be bystanders to the suffering of so many kids.

Kidoinfo: Who’s in your family?
TG: Julia, my wife, our two boys; John and Julian, close family from Julia’s side who live local, and the Institute.

Kidoinfo: What trait do you most admire about your family?
TG: Love of life.

Kidoinfo: What is your favorite thing to do?
TG: Love reading these days, mainly non-fiction.  Have a series of photographs on my Facebook titled ‘reading’.

Kidoinfo: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
TG: Roger Williams Park, by our house.

Kidoinfo: Where would you most like to live?
TG: Here. Then Israel, Rome, London, Rio if it were safer. Many places are attractive.  I cannot imagine a boring place.

Kidoinfo: What do you like to do when you are not with your kids?
TG: Hang with Julia, my wife. I love my work at the Institute for Nonviolence, tennis, soccer, running, and honoring Irish tradition at a pub.

Kidoinfo: What is the most overrated thing about parenthood?
TG: Is it overrated? I think parenting is both simple commitment and a complicated skill that is today undervalued.

Kidoinfo: What is your most treasured possession?
TG: Family paintings of a few generations.

Kidoinfo: What superpower would you most like to have?
TG: Printing money. Some problems are easily solved with resources in the right hands.

Kidoinfo: Who is your favorite fictional mother or father?
TG: Dumbledore, from Harry Potter is Julia’s favorite. I am struck by how few figures I can recall. King Lear had an impact on me in 10th grade. The Father by Strindberg was a devastating play I saw at The National Theater in London.  In 5th grade we read a short passage from Charles Dickens, which was critical of a father, but I found the father to be all alone between his manual labor and his family.  An amazing dad is Roberto Benigni’s portrayal of a father hiding the reality of the Holocaust in the film, Life is Beautiful.

Kidoinfo: What are you going to do now that you have answered these questions?
TG: Read to my boys Native American stories, Trixter, which I got on a recent trip in Arizona.

The Kidoinfo Conversation about Family Traditions is made possible with support from our sponsors. Thank you to our lead sponsor, The Gordon School and our supporting sponsors; Craftland, Snow Beverages, WholeFoods, Leslie Kellogg (Residential Properties), Hannah’s Harvest, Cutler & Company, and Soul at Work.

Leave a reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.