I feel like I’m supposed to write, YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!! AHMAAAZING! WAIT FOR IT!!  Moms, Dads, this child, this adorable, mischievous, grubby, demanding and curious… you know where I’m going.

“They grow up fast“, they told me.

When I was a sleep-deprived young parent my Dad said, “Just remember, these ARE the good ol days!” Maybe you’re in the middle of the good ol days right now. Listen, parents, my Dad was right. Don’t blink, be present.

Now, this boy looks like this…

Photo by Asia Eidson, http://www.photobyjoy.com

Yes, this is the little guy now, with his lovely wife! (Not some fashion magazine shoot) He used to bite my shoulder when I carried him around in his little backpack baby-carrier. He’d bite hard and I’d yell and he’d laugh and laugh. But I didn’t, it hurt! And it came at random, the little terrorist, the little CEO. I’d be hiking along, starting to take in the beauty of a hike and then zing! Hahahahaha!

I think this happens to parents, maybe you, you’re in a moment and maybe appreciating something good, like ice cream, and then your kid bites you (metaphorically or literally!) and you get kind of frustrated. Now that I look back at those days I feel a little differently, like maybe the thing that most deserved noticing was the little guy on my back.

I know all this is kind of cliche, but things become cliche because they get said a lot and they get said a lot because they’re true. Children are beautiful and true, don’t miss them. Don’t plop them in front of some tech that fries their little brain so you can do something easier, just engage. You’ll rest when you’re old.