It’s not that hard. Much of parenting is instinctive. And what kids want the most from their parents is pretty simple to give them. They want you to spend time with them. You’ve figured that out, haven’t you?
When my oldest and middle sons were about 8 and 10 years old, they went with me on the annual church float trip on the Buffalo River in north Arkansas. The oldest, Jim, rode in a canoe with one of our friends and Caleb, the younger one, rode with me. The weather had been rather dry that Spring and floating the river required lots of paddling. At times we even had to push ourselves along the bottom as the water was pretty shallow in places.
By the end of the day, I was wore out. You can imagine how much help an 8-yr-old was.
The next day at church I was complaining about being tired and sunburned and sore. From my perspective, it was an awful float trip.
I overheard Caleb talking about the trip when someone asked him how it was: “It was a great day. I got to ride with my Dad.”
Parenting isn’t so hard. It’s not that expensive. It is a matter of priority and time. That which is important to us gets our time and attention.
I’ve tried to remember that principle ever since that weekend with my boys. Love is spelled T-I-M-E. I think Zig Ziglar first said that.
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