Simple Parenting

Dear pregnant client who confided in me today how terrified you are to raise a child,

Please know that God made you expressly for this purpose, that he breathes into you the very knowledge and instincts you need to care for your child. Please don’t read anymore books. They serve only to make you believe you must not know what to do or there wouldn’t be these massive instruction books for sale. Please know that parenting, in the general sense, is so easy. Sure, you will get tired, you will feel unsure, you will drop to your knees and beg God himself to calm your heart… even if you aren’t sure you believe in his existence. Know, please know that parenting boils down to just a few things that really really matter…

– Hold your child. Don’t even buy those things to put them in. Just hold them, always. I promise it won’t impede development. I promise they will still roll over and crawl and alllll that stuff. And once they do all that stuff, the opportunities to hold them diminsh. Wear them, snuggle them, kiss the peach fuzz, let your heart beat guide theirs. No mother has ever wished she had held her babies less.

– Comfort them. Please God, comfort them when they cry. They are begging for your touch, your smell, your breast. You cannot spoil them. You, instead, will let them know that you are there, that you are a soft bed on which they can fall as they spread their wings. Never let them doubt that you will be there for their tears or you won’t get the chance when you want it.

– Let them go. Even at just a year as they toddle away from you, your heart will rip with the understanding that they will simply toddle farther and farther, and maybe even for a short time in their twenties, they will run from you. Let them. Let them climb and explore and get dirty and try daring feats. Confidence comes when you test your limits and succeed, lessons come when you test your limits and fail. You know this; you’ve lived it. Let them fail early while you are still there to catch them and dry their tears.

Dear pregnant client, you will be fine. I promise. Ignore the voices of the people around you and listen to your heart. Remember that every moment is fleeting, even the hard ones, and in a flash you will live in these moments rather than the present because YOU ARE “IN IT” right now. All in, 100%. You are in the hardest, bestest, most exhausting, most rewarding time in your life! And when it’s all over, you will wish you could do it all again…yes, all of it. This is the beautiful story of your life! Read it like a book you can’t bear to put down. Read it over and over. Quote it. Share it. Love it!!