be willing to learn from the littlest

Let your children be your teachers. Let them guide the pace and the process. Watch how they become absorbed in whatever is in the moment. Watch them with water or bugs or playdoh. They are immersed. They want you to read the same book twenty times a day. Go with it. They are learning to get all the marrow out of something. Little kids are so excited looking for the Easter eggs, or playing hide and seek or being the tiger who sneaks up on you ten times in a row in the same surprise attack. They are learning to delight in all small pleasures.

In the bath, they are letting the water run over them. They’re lifting the bubbles to the light for countless minutes together…over and over and over. They are experiencing wonder.

We want them to hang onto this. Delight in small pleasures. Immerse ourselves in the moment. Experience wonder. These are gifts we want for them.

When they take your face in their chubby little hands so you will look them in the eye and they KNOW you are listening…it’s a clue. A clue that they need to be heard…a clue that attending is vital. A clue that your eyes and your attention and your love and tenderness matters more than anything.

Love like a toddler loves. They love themselves and us with utter and unreserved abandon.

And we can learn from this.