A lttle parent perspective!

Look, can you see my new tooth coming in??

Dear friends, until now, I never really considered the "reason" that parents all around the world do things for their children. Ok, now that sounds vague. Let me step back. When our babies are born, we feed them, clean them, change them, etc., because we love them and want to take good care of them. Now she is 1-1/2 years old and times have changed! Before when I would see parents taking their children places such as the zoo, or amusement parks, I always just kind of thought that parents did these things because their kids wanted to go, and that they half begrudgingly were taking them. Don't get me wrong, I never considered my parents to begrudgingly do things with us. My Dad used to watch cartoons with us on Saturday mornings and I knew that he liked them as much as we did :-) (This kind of memory makes my heart smile) I was just never aware of the true JOY that parents get when they see their kid's face light up with pure enjoyment, awe, wonder, and happiness!!!! Wow, I find myself wanting to do things that Elle would like, just to see the happiness on her little, blessed, face. Buy a dish of ice cream at the mall (ok, so I just might enjoy that too), take her on a ride at the Mall of America, let her watch Sesame Street for the 5th time that day (ok, not really 5X, but she would if she could) so she can say "la, la, la" with Big Bird and dance during the theme song, read the same book over and over so she can learn what comes next, buy cute clothes for her instead of for myself (kids clothes are cuter anyways), etc....etc...

This may sound obvious to you veteran parents, but a true light bulb came on in my head not long ago. It wasn't until she started to really understand the meanings of things and began to show true excitement and anticipation, that it hit me with full force!

However, with it came the comprehension of the reverse. The extreme sadness of parents when they can't provide the things, experiences that their kids would love to have. It made me think of toys for tots and the angel tree at Christmas and how wonderful it is for parents to have a gift to give their kids, just to see their pleasure. I also thought about how many kids get SOOO many things that nothing is special any more and they begin to EXPECT these things. I realize what a balance parenting is and how I am grateful that we can provide so many things and experiences for Elle. I pray every day that we don't lose perspective of this and that Elle can one day come to understand how much we love providing for her.

Elle digging into the bag of my most recent bargain shopping indulgence for Elle...