12 Things I've Learned about Myself from Parenting Small Children

Next week, our adopted treasure (Mary Carol) will turn four years old. Her smile still lights up our world and Turner’s laugh is a sound I love to hear every day.

Parenting isn’t just an exercise in helping little ones learn, though. There are so many things we learn about ourselves–some good and some not-so-good–from parenting little ones. Here are just a few of the lessons I’ve learned in the past four years.

1. I need more patience. True confession time: I want my kids to be the age they are, but have the maturity and patience of an adult. I get totally frustrated far too easily.

2. Even small children love boundaries, though they don’t say it. We discipline our children quite often. Some would say we are too hard on our kids, but they love us deeply. Mary Carol has really shown in the past few months that she is understanding some of the rules. Study after study shows that children like to know where “the line” is, and personal experience bears that out.

3. There is nothing sweeter than hearing a child pray. While the prayers may be repetitive at times, it’s the heart behind the prayer that shines through in a way that simply cannot be described. Hearing a child thank God for “mommy and daddy” is a treat that no one can understand until it happens with your children.

4. “Bingo” is a classic song. I can tell you how to spell that dog’s name, and so can my two-year-old. (Also acceptable as classics are “The Wheels on the Bus,” “Happy Birthday,” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”)

5. Time with your spouse is special. You know that before children enter the relationship, but the time is obviously less once children enter the picture. Don’t just “do your own thing!” However…

6. Time alone is special, too! Those moments with a good book or podcast are really special. It is nice to be able to unwind a bit, but don’t just be alone and never spend time with your spouse.

7. The Grammy’s, American Idol, Wall Street and other things just aren’t that important. It’s amazing how spending time with your children and spending time with a family makes you forget about those things that used to be an obsession (not that American Idol has ever been on in our house…yuck!!!). If your list of things to do and know hasn’t changed since you had children, something is wrong.

8. God’s design for the family is perfect. Of course, I knew this intellectually before we had children, but having children and seeing what Leah is able to do with the children only lets me know more that God was right…again!

9. Mommies need a break. Yes, we daddies need a break from time-to-time, too, but we often complain because we have meetings. Mommies are cleaning messes and dealing with people who can’t seem to think straight, and they are doing that all day long! If mommy hasn’t been out of the house (without the kids) in some time, give her a break!!!

10. Grandparents are fantastic!When children get to experience time with grandparents, it only adds to their “grounding.” We have trouble getting our kids to sleep when we are traveling to see Gran and Paw-paw or Grampie and Grammy. That’s the way it should be.

11. Shopping counts as exercise if children are involved. If you’ve never gone shopping for more than 28 seconds with small children, you just don’t understand. If you have, you’ve burned some serious calories!

12. I need to have faith like my children have. I’m just blown away by how simple the faith of my children is, and how much they absolutely love learning something new about the Bible. I need to be more like that!

—What have you learned?