I was making my daily shopping trip to Walmart today and saw a mother pushing her little girl in a shopping cart. They were Mennonites and mother and daughter were dressed the same. The little girl appeared to be two or so and was beautiful! When the mother made eye contact with me, I told her that her daughter was adorable. Her response is the reason for this posting. She simply said ” She is a gift from God.” Now I believe that every child is a gift from God. I know that my youngest son, born when my wife and I were 45, could be nothing less. It made me think though, do we treat our children as gifts or do we in the day to day activities of our life treat them as obligations or occasionally even obstructions? I know that I personally have times when I wonder why my children want to ruin my life. Why can’t they just be what and who I want them to be. My wife will tell you that I don’t like surprises. I usually guess what my birthday/Christmas gifts are before they are unwrapped. Sometimes I think I try to do the same with my children. Rather than just appreciate the gift that they are, I try to guess what/who they might become and become frustrated when they are otherwise. I am probably not unique in this but I think as parents, we need to try and appreciate the gift that is given instead of trying to make it what we want it to be. I hope my kids will forgive my personality flaw and that I can find a way to be better.
A Walmart Moment
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August 23, 2009 at 3:12 am |
Cool! My brother has a blog.
I really love this post because I can relate to it in so many ways. Having a child who is “different” has forced me to rethink those expectations and I have realized that whatever and whoever our children are is who THEY are supposed to be. I really do believe Jacob is a gift from God, and that he was meant to have Tourette Syndrome. I still have expectations but I’m learning that sometimes, actually most times, things turn out alright, even better, when I let those go.