Honored to Be a Parent

As I was applying acne gel to my son’s face, a thought came to me. What an honor it is to be a mother. Strange time for such a thought I admit, but without him I would have no one to apply the gel to.

Raising a child is never easy, and there’s not a single parent out there who has it all figured out. We’re all learning, and it’s a life-long process. Being a parent can be tough.

Kids will throw tantrums. They will scream and cry. They will crawl on everything, up everything, and in everything.  They will break keepsakes and spit-up in our hair. They’ll place blame on others and they will become know-it-alls. They will ask endless questions like “why?” and “are we there yet?”

But they also bring so much joy to our lives, and a love unlike any other.

Their newly formed mouths giggle and smile. After much anticipation, we hear “Dada” and “Mama” for the first time. They climb into our arms to deliver a hug that only they can give. They learn to read letters, then a word, a sentence, and finally a book.

In tiny voices they say “I love you”, and with boldness they cry for help when they’re hurting. They begin school with trepidation, and with confidence they graduate. They fall in love, begin careers, marry, and have children of their own.

Children are precious, amazing and brilliant. They are our present, and our future. As a parent, the most important and most rewarding job in the world, is the raising of our children.

If given the choice to do it all over again, there would be no hesitation. I’d much rather go through it all, than not at all.

It is truly an honor to be a parent.