Time is flying by

I swear, I was just taking down my holiday decorations a little while ago and now, somehow, there are only 10 more days of school. Where did this year go?

Everyone I meet who has a child older than mine says, “You better soak up every minute…You’ll blink, and they will be heading off to college.” And what I’m starting to realize is they’re absolutely correct.

My daughter turned seven this spring. She got her ears pierced. She competed her first balance beam routine. She’s speaking a second language. And she’ll be a second-grader in a few short weeks. And my son, he’s five now. He ran his first 5k, scored his first hockey goals and is graduating preschool. And he’s more than excited to be a big kid and start kindergarten. They’re both growing up so fast.

I know I’m not the only parent guilty of getting caught up in our lives, in that nose down in the minute-to-minute details and planning of it all that I forget about some of the little things along the way. I find I have to remind myself to look up and “smell the roses” a bit.

And what I have found is that this year has been the year of the little things. Soaking up the moments of snuggling, running to the bus stop, doing our homework on the swing set, eating cereal at 8 p.m., and nightly giggle fests while watching America’s Funniest Home Videos. All those moments weren’t necessarily big events or in the plan, but they are the little things that I’m starting to realize I will miss once my kiddos are “too big” to spend time that with mom and dad, or just too busy. And looking at our schedules, those days are fast approaching.

So take a moment, or better yet, make a few moments this summer that you’ll remember because those are the memories that carry on for a lifetime.

What our kids hear about the world & how they feel

Recently, as I was cruising through twitter, I stumbled upon the video of a 4-year-old little girl who was crying about the Presidential Election. Reactions to it are varied, but I found it to be precious, authentic and real because I live with a 4-year-old who listens intently to everything, is super curious, and feels deeply.  How many parents are wondering, just like me, whether they should tell their kids about major events or asking themselves, "Can they handle it?" 

I can't imagine what is was like for parents in 2001, trying to explain the terrorist attacks to their children. Our kids are smarter than we give them credit for, but their emotions are often a little more extreme or off balance. They feel more compassion, happiness, excitement, and sorrow. For example, I find that with my kids, they either feel too much or they don't feel enough compared to my own adult reactions. 

Thus, as Sandy was hitting the east coast, I had to determine how to approach it with my 6-and 4-year-olds. I decided to turn the TV on at dinner so that we, as a family, could watch what was happening to our friends on the east coast and to a city we've spend so much time in.  I lived in NYC for 8 years and our family has spent months at a time in the city. The coverage captivated Spider for quite awhile and he listen intently to our conversation, then he said "Can we turn this off, it's scaring me!" So I asked him why he was scared, and basically he was convinced Sandy was coming to Park City.  Once I assured him that Sandy was not coming to, as he calls it "our town in America", he became more curios. He was listening to the reports as we started cleaning up, and later announced to the family that "Sandy was heading to Canada."  He talked about Sandy at school and corrected his friends, who were convinced Sandy was a person, by telling them it was a hurricane that turned into a cyclone. 

His absorption of the situation was amazing. I am consistently in awe of the way kids handle information with such a pure level of intrigue and interest. It warms my heart that they have the desire to learn, and breaks my heart when they feel so much emotion when trying to digest the information.

So as events occur within our world, from presidential elections to natural disasters, think about how you share it with your children. They are more acutely aware of what's happening in their surroundings than we give them credit for.