Being Mom and Dad

Being a parent is about one perfecting one thing and one thing only: your patience. If you ever needed patience training, spend hours each day with a two-year-old. You'll quickly learn that holding your temper is the best way not to throw your own tantrum. You'll quickly learn that impatience only leads to more of whatever behavior you were trying to get rid of in the first place.

Being a parent means learning to be patient and ignore the whining. It means learning to be patient and accept the mistakes. Your child is a child and, therefore, must make mistakes--many, many mistakes--to learn and grow.

A child grows over the course of 20 years (and more after that as well). Being a mom or a dad means you must be even MORE patient than the farmer. At least the farmer harvests each year.  There will be many small harvests, but the bulk of your planting won't bear fruit for years! You plant, and you water. You shine down light and give up soil. You sacrifice of yourself. An arm, a leg, years of sleep, months of worry. You lay down hugs and kisses and boo-boo healing. You pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. Then you wait.