Cherish our little ones every minute of their lives
- col-lee-elliot-aging-graciously
- October 9, 2024
- 673
The other day I had the unfortunate opportunity to be shopping in the same store as a young mother and her maybe 4-year-old son. From the minute they walked in the door, she began chastising him to behave. It was particularly noticeable because his first name was the same as my last, and she could be heard throughout the store yelling that name.
The young boy was excited to be riding in the cart his mother was pushing and would say, “Look, Mommy, we going to get that?” The mother’s reply was an angry “No, we’re not, and you better behave or you know what will happen.”
Her other replies to him were equally nasty, constantly threatening him and telling him what he couldn’t do or say and what he was or wasn’t going to get.
After a half-hour of listening to this, the mother and grandmother in me wanted to go to her and tell her to stop it, but of course today, we can’t do that. I wanted her to know what a sweet experience it could have been had she happily and gently shared it with the child, if she had said, “Yes, aren’t those pretty? We aren’t going to get them today, but we can still look at them.”
I wanted her to know how beautiful it is to be lucky enough to have a child, how wondrous watching them learn, how valuable our responses to them.
There is a commercial that says, “Childhood lasts only so many days, and then it is gone. Enjoy your child.” How true that is. They are grown with children of their own before you even think it possible, and what you instill in them, you will see in your grandchildren.
Losing a child is the hardest thing on Earth. Once done, if you have other children, you are constantly aware you could lose them too. It is a heart hurt and worry that never leaves.
In my immediate family, we have lost five of our children to relentless diseases when they were under 40. That is the wrong order. We are supposed to go first, after a long life of love and caring for our young ones. It’s not explainable, not acceptable, but must be accepted.
If we expect our world to get better, we need to cherish our little ones every minute of their lives. We need to show them what miracles they are, how much we love them, discipline them gently, only as needed, and not blunt their curiosity and happiness in discovery.
Hug your children today, no matter what age, no matter what the situation, no matter what.