What if, as adults, we all saw these young, budding athletes, entrepreneurs, negotiators, builders, gardeners, jokesters, dancers, and dreamers as destined for greatness? What if all they needed was someone to believe in them, to encourage them, to smile at them, to give them a chance? The world has enough doubters, disagreers, haters, and just down-right grumps. Enough people find ways to tear kids down. I wonder what would happen if every child, just once in their life, could be asked for their autograph by an adoring fan. What kind of a difference could that simple thing make in their little world—and maybe even in ours?
It’s been a month since life, for most of us, was normal. That’s meant less trips to the grocery store, less birthday parties to run to, less playing with friends, no sitting in a pew for church. It’s meant no baseball, no after school sports…no actual school. It’s been a lot of less and even more or none.
But, for us, it’s also meant more time as a family, more connecting with others in deeper ways, more patience, more gratitude, more faith, more awareness. For us, it’s been an abundance of more.
When life is normal again, I hope we don’t loose all that we’ve gained. New Post!
In the last 11 years, I’ve spent endless hours playing with my kids at the playground. In every park we’ve explored, I’ve discovered that there are few crimes more hainous in parenting than that of allowing your children to go up the slide. Indeed,… Continue Reading “I let my kids climb up the slide”
A couple nights back I was talking to a mom at my son’s 4th grade basketball practice. In the course of our conversation she asked how old my other boys were. When I told her that I have a middle schooler, her response was,… Continue Reading “Famous Last Words–things we say as (or about) parents that maybe we shouldn’t”
Our boys moved bedrooms around a few weeks ago, and I’ve found that this change represented more to me than I realized. One of the hardest parts of being a mom is watching our kids grow and wishing we could keep them small. Change is never easy, but it always comes. And I’m starting to learn that what we gain is often far greater than what we leave behind!
I have a confession. I’m not on the PTA. I still have my Christmas decorations up, I ate a piece of chocolate at 7:05 this morning, and my biggest accomplishment this past year has been organizing my linen closet and reading bedtime stories. Some… Continue Reading “Stop Shoulding on Yourself”
Hello old friends! It’s been years since I’ve even been on Catching Crawfish. But I’m excited (and a bit terrified!) to be back, and I hope you’ll join me on this new adventure!
I have never met a one-year-old that I didn’t find completely and utterly adorable. Their pudgy sausage fingers, their squeals of delight, their hilarious interpretations of new words that will, for better or worse, follow them the remainder of their lives (raga-lo-li-lo-li will forever… Continue Reading “One-kin-stine”