parenting 101

Sit with me and tell me your story...

There is so much I’m learning so very fast this year. Most of it centers around parenting. I feel like that is such a vague, non descript word for the raising of children. I mean it just defines so much, how are you ever supposed to know what you’re doing?!

Now I’m very lucky. My world of parenting isn’t full time nor is it forever. I will let them go in a matter of months. But perhaps that doesn’t change the fact that right now they are my world.

So as of right now, here’s what I’ve gleaned:

It is true. Nothing prepares you for the worrying. In a matter of seconds of knowing they are under your protection you start to worry about them—Are they sleeping? Are they doing their homework? What do you mean you didn’t have time for dinner? Please wear a helmet, don’t hang out with THOSE kids, look both ways…

Their tears will break your heart. You want nothing more than to erase all their pain, and you curse those that cause it.

Nothing beats those moments where they are really sharing their lives with you. Nothing.

Their laughter makes you feel like flying.

When they are excited, you are excited. Period.

You sense their stress and fear. You know they are terrified of their future. They don’t see it like you do. You see the people they are going to be, the wonderful lives they will lead, where they see the unknown and the unpredictable.

You yearn for them to see themselves the way you see them. You see the magic, the quirk, the beauty, and the potential. They see the confusion, the messy hair, the weird, and all the faults.

You will undoubtedly make a ton of mistakes. You must accept that. You will say things, think things, punish, or forgive all in the wrong direction. You will lay in bed ruminating over decisions made or unmade. And you will always think of the right thing to say AFTER the fact.

Sometimes you will do it right. And you will breathe easy. Then something else comes along…