Tilly is such an easy child to love, having this little ball of fun loving extroverted energy. She is prone to run/head wobble her way down the hall, laughing excitedly, expecting that I will chase her down and blow raspberries on her belly button (the cute little belly button that she cant stop playing with). This is an experience that never fails to light me up with pure joy!

I’m glad that we all get moments as parents where loving our kids is easy. Placing value on this beautiful little two year old at 3am is not so easy, especially when I have already spent the last hour getting a bottle of milk, holding her, sitting down, standing up, walking with her and every other trick that I know to get her to sleep. She now she looks more awake than she did 30 mins ago. Sometimes as a parent placing value on my child is the last thing that I FEEL like doing. Moving past those feelings and  choosing to place value on a child is one of the hardest things we have to do as parents. There are times were we would much rather swap roles and let the child make the difficult choices.

Being treated as valuable in spite of our attitudes, abilities and behaviours is one of the most empowering and stabilising things we can experience as human beings. It’s this gift that will give our kids the greatest shot at living whole and healthy lives. I haven’t met a parent yet that has this totally down pat. Moving forward to this rather imposing goal is the essence of what being a good parent is all about. We might not get there, but for our kids it’s probably worth giving it a real go.

One choice at a time

Ben