Sometimes it feels like parenting is a checklist of milestones, events written beside squares waiting to be marked through, and sometimes we get so caught up in the big moments that we forget to take note of the little things. We get so wrapped up in the days to come that we fail to acknowledge the day to day. Sometimes we’re so focused on the next task, the next chore, that we miss the in between.
Sometimes we lose track of the journey by looking for the destination.
I have to remind myself often to slow down. I have to remind myself that it’s okay if all the things aren’t completed all of the time. I have to remind myself that when she’s older, I want her to look back on her youth as fun and positive not time spent waiting on the adults to finish the adult things. I have to remind myself what it’s like to be a kid again. I have to remind myself to learn, not just teach.
She constantly reminds me how important it is to swim instead of simply treading water.
Every day with her is an adventure. She points out the clouds and the buildings and the plants and the people. She discovers things she’s never seen before and instantly makes up a story to accompany her findings. She takes deep breaths and inhales the world around her. She laughs. She lets her eyes scan the horizon soaking in every detail of her surroundings. She lives.
Parenting, I’ve learned, is seeing the world all over again through their eyes - living defined.
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