I’ve been thinking about how much of parenting is spent preparing our children to grow up.

We teach them to be independent.

To be patient.

To share.

To listen.

To make good choices.

And somewhere in the middle of all that teaching, I wonder if we sometimes forget just how little they still are.

We expect them to manage emotions they’re only beginning to understand.

To have patience when waiting still feels impossible.

To respond reasonably when the world around them is still so new.

And sometimes, I think we forget that childhood isn’t simply preparation for adulthood.

It’s a part of life all its own.

One they’re only going to experience once.

There will be plenty of time for responsibility.

For independence.

For learning how complicated the world can be.

But right now, there are little hands reaching for ours.

Questions that seem endless.

Feelings that seem enormous.

And a whole world they’re still discovering.

I don’t want to spend so much time preparing a child for tomorrow that I forget to appreciate the child standing in front of me today.

Because growing up will happen.

It always does.

But childhood deserves more than being hurried through.

Let them learn. Let them wonder. Let them need us.

Let them be little.

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“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”

— Matthew 18:10 (NIV)