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In an ideal world, all of our children would love to go to school, love to learn, love to work on their reading comprehension and writing skills, and be effortlessly talented with numbers. As a parent, it’s natural to wonder how to get your child interested in school. In reality, kids sometimes dislike studying. And there…
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This weekend it struck me: My daughter, who is just a year old, will never know a world where there hasn’t been a woman in the White House. And until the age of 41, I’ve never known a world where there has. My kids will never live in a country where there hasn’t been a…
You can watch the video, or read the full post below.
PARENTING is small things done over and over and over again. Done until we don’t think we can do them anymore.
It’s routine. It’s repetitive. It’s constant.
It’s bigger than I thought. It’s smaller than I thought.
It’s everyday tasks.
The baths, the meals, the Band-Aids for invisible boo-boos.
It’s kissing a knee that needs kissing. It’s holding a child who needs holding.
It’s understanding our own parents better than we did before.
It’s good intentions. And good intentions that we don’t always keep.
It’s replacing the batteries and refilling the prescriptions.
It’s the appointments. It’s the forms. It’s the laundry.
SO. MUCH. LAUNDRY.
It’s noses that don’t stop running all winter. It’s running out in the cold to get more tissues.
It’s bedtime stories when you’re too tired.
It’s nightmares.
It’s hurt feelings and confusion. It’s second guessing ourselves.
It’s school pickup lines and parent teacher conferences. It might be IEPs and therapies and specialists, too. Not all loads are equal.
It’s finding LEGOs in weird places.
It’s googling weird rashes.
It’s a lap that’s full. It’s arms that are full. It’s a mind that’s full to the point of exploding, sometimes.
It’s the teaching. Of letters and numbers and potty training. But also of manners and traditions and character.
It’s holding a space for a hand to grow. It’s holding a space for a heart to grow.
It’s holding space for quiet and for noise.
A LOT of noise.
It’s yogurt. It’s dirt. It’s a lot of messes. Always, messes.
It’s waiting for the on-call doctor to call back when it’s late and the fever won’t break.
It’s clothes that won’t fit for long and grocery bills that are too high.
Sometimes it’s pride. Sometimes it’s embarrassment. Always, it’s love.
Parenting is the small things, done over and over and over.
In the repetition of these small things done over and over and over, our kids find the big things they need.
They learn what love looks like in this repetition.
And so do we.
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Such a beautiful read. Thank you for capturing and sharing it ALL so well! Xo
Thanks Katie. I can’t believe they are getting so big!
Lovely description of parenting! It’s hard to believe but those were really the very happiest days of my life!
Thanks Auntie! And I do believe those were the happiest days 🙂
Here I am at 7am on a Sunday morning, tears rolling down my face while reading this beautiful essay. Then again it could be the fact that I am going through menopause at the same time my “little girl” is going through pms. Thank you either way.
Aw, thanks for this message Cheryl! Even if it’s the menopause talking 😉