I know you’ve been there – the
tear-hear hour when your kids (or kid) won’t go to sleep or nap and needs your
undivided attention and all you want
to do is… divide. As adults in a multi-tasking world, we’re always thinking at
least seven steps ahead and trying to figure out who, what, where, when and how
for at least the next week.
My son doesn’t need that kind
of attention anymore, but I remember the days of young childhood as
particularly challenging—especially for a writer who’s always writing in her
head. I thought about that today when a raft of interruptions came my way and
then something happened that surprised me.
I remembered taking my son for
walks, going to playgrounds and feeding him dinner with something approaching
nostalgia—and it wasn’t because he was such a cutie (though he was). It was
because being with him allowed me to stay in the moment, without having to
plan/worry/obsess about what I needed/wanted/could be doing in the distant or
not-too-distant future.
Time and kids. It’s up to us to
figure out whether they give more than they take, and right now, at least with
hindsight, I’m thinking it’s the former. Because when else are you going to
have the time to inhale the smell of a fallen leaf or decorate a cake or noodle
around in a bookstore? We’d all love to set aside our day for those things, but
unless we’re doing them with our children, will we do them at all?
I guess that nostalgia is
telling me to get away from the computer and out on a walk right now. Without a
small child to remind me, I’m pretty much on my own. Or maybe it’s time to read
one of these articles?
Make
More Time for Yourself: Elizabeth Fenner
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