If only I could still see everything like my daughter sees things.....If only I could act like she does ALL the time.....
Every Loving parent wants to brag about thier child and thinks they are special, and they are. All children are special. They are us, they are our past, they are our future. They ground us, they lift us. We should be thanking them for all they do for us....
So here starts my bragging about my daughter for just a bit. I am so lucky to have NEVER been one of those parents that can't wait to have "time away" from her. I have never needed "a break". Parents have told me over and over "just wait", "you'll see", that has not happened yet. No terrible two's, no loss of sleep, no terrible anything. She is 5 now, and I still have never not wanted her company. I take her everywhere. If I have to work on my car she is there learning and holding bolts for me, if I am building something she is there learning and helping, if I go shopping she is there, if I am doing yard work she is helping (usually picking the weed flowers before I mow them). Which brings me to the reason I was inspired to write this today. Did I mention children inspire us?
Anyway, I was walking my daughter to her classroom today and on the way she pulled the one and only little flower out of the middle of a bunch of weeds and gave it to me to "have for the day to think about her". It was all I could do to not shed a tear...
Man, if only we could apply that thought process to our adult lives. I saw a weed that I would have stepped on with no thought. She saw something beautiful to give to her Dad.
My child sees everything from me as a gift. If it is a chore, she's thankful I asked her to help, if it's a toy she's thankful I thought of her. Wow, how can I see things that way???? Her new thing to tell me is "Daddy, I love you so much I can't stop saying it". I can honestly say I don't believe anyone has ever loved me that much. If that isn't inspiring I don't know what is.
I know there are parents out there that have children that drive them crazy. They can do things that down right make your skin crawl. All I can say is try to laugh with them. It will change things. When they see you laughing it's like a light bulb going off in thier heads. You can become so much closer to them by involving yourself in what makes them laugh! You can get mad at whatever they did and add that anger to the rest of your lifes angers or you can laugh it off, clean it up, fix it, whatever... and give them a big hug and enjoy the craziness! Become a child yourself if even for a minute.....
P.S.
Bye the way, that tiny little weed flower is in a shot glass of water because I just know she is going to ask me about it later.
