Our Children Grow Up Too Quickly

Our children grow up too quickly. If you don't believe it, think back to what you were doing at different stages of your own child's development. When my oldest daughter was in sixth grade, I remember her talking about boys in a way that I didn't even think about until later in middle school or maybe even high school. I had a very important conversation with her at that point. She remarked that she was talking that way because that is how all of her friends were talking. I told her that I was still playing with Barbie dolls at her age and she didn't need to feel like she had to be doing all those things that her friends may have been saying that they were doing. She was embarrassed that her friends would make fun of her. I explained that her friends were very likely still playing with Barbie dolls, too, and she didn't have to tell them if she didn't want to. The most amazing thing happened almost immediately. She became my little girl again.

One thing I have always said to my children and will likely say to my grandchildren one day is this. You spend so much of your life chasing that boy or girl and one day you'll catch them. Then what happens? You can't wait to get rid of them. So enjoy the simplicity of your childhood and do not be in a rush to be something that isn't all that it is cracked up to be. It will all happen too quickly anyway and then you will be chasing something that you can never get back. Your youth.

Fast forward nearly four years and I am having a new conversation with that same daughter. I had just come from the store and had purchased some items for Easter. She knew they were in the car and she knew that I was taking them in the house to hide them. She looked at me and said, "It really sucks that the Easter Bunny isn't real or Santa Clause or the Tooth Fairy." She hates that that part of her childhood is over. She can't chase it and recapture it. It's gone. The innocence of that belief has disappeared. It was a wonderful realization for me to know that she still craved that innocence. It made me feel that in some small way, I had done a good job. She wasn't concerned about growing up faster; she wished she could slow it down. Awesome!