I snuggled close to my sleeping children as firecrackers boomed and whistled around us on New Year’s Eve. Blissfully unaware of the din, they had looked so sweet and peaceful.
They say childhood is fleeting. I never felt it to be truer or more real than that moment when the new year was dawning. I marvelled at the thought of my children turning one year older. Older!
Parents all over must want time to stop or at least slow down for more joyful moments with their children. To hold their chubby fingers. To kiss the tip of their perfect chins. To nudge their tiny noses with their own big ones. To hear more one-last-question-before-I-sleep-Mama. To scratch an itchy foot.
I do.
 This photo of Little T is by my friend Chiqui Obcemea |
I can’t freeze time but I promise to do the next best thing – be with my children in ways that will make the passing of these precious years something to rejoice for. I will leave no room for regret.
I offer here my list of things to do with my children this year. Some are new but most are things I want to do more of. I pray that we will all delight in our children’s childhood.
- Play in the dark – flashlight is a must – inside and outside the house
- Take evening family strolls and not mind when both ask to be carried on the way home
- Stay in the sandbox with all kinds of creepy creatures
- Bake cookies, cupcakes, and whole cakes too!
- Just sit, look, and be still while they are playing in their own pretend worlds. No words needed.
- Read books in the garden
- Let them eat like dogs if they want to – and not cringe. How they love to slurp water from their bowls on the floor!
- Pretend that dogs are not scary and not scream when one gets too near
- Keep giving out flour when playing “cooking”
- Read that one-last-book-please
- Draw on the sidewalk with chalk
- Prepare trays, water, and cups for some serious pouring games
- Let them wear costumes when going out without batting an eyelash
- Put on kiddie nail polish as soon as a coat comes off which is about every 2 minutes
- Give them showers with the garden hose – and make rainbows too!
- Get lost on night time adventures in the garden, calling out Oh where Oh where are my children?
- Stay in the bathroom until their fingers are wrinkled and they themselves declare All done!
- Care for plants beyond looking at them after the seeds have sprouted
- Be my ballerina’s danseur doing the heavy lifting
- Fly kites
- Have breakfast, lunch, snack, or dinner picnics in the garden
What’s on your list?
