Thriving Parents

shifting Parenthood from barely surviving to thriving

A date with Rebecca

On Wednesday I picked Rebecca up from preschool and asked her what she’d like to eat for lunch.  She said she wanted to eat soup “from a real growned up restaurant.”  The best thing about her suggestion?  She wanted to eat at Panera.

Typically Wednesdays are the days that Rebecca stays for lunch at school.  It’s my day of the week to write, schedule classes, send emails, and do some good cleaning in the house.  Lately she’s been asking to come home instead of staying for lunch.  

I had a thousand things to do but I delayed them all to have a date with my littlest girl.  

We called my mom to meet us for lunch.  We both had soup and shared some potato chips.  When we left, Rebecca and I headed to the park.  We had a good amount of time to spend there before having to pick up Kate and Caroline from school.

We played on the playground equipment for a while and then Rebecca chose to play on the soccer field and was intent on finding a “really great leaf”. 

We began by following all the white lines on the field. One by one she handed me leaves and insisted that I say thank you each time. 

It was an amazing afternoon.  I didn’t think of all the things I should have been doing.  I didn’t look at my phone (except to take these few photos).  The afternoon was all about her.  
She sucked it all in too, because let’s face it: how often does a kid get their mother’s undivided attention?  
We took a walk down a path where she began to collect sticks. She didn’t discriminate based on length and picked them all up. 
We talked about things we saw as we walked.  And then,

“What do you know about God?” she asked me.

“I know I can trust him. What do you know about God?”
“You don’t ask the questions. I’m the student. The students ask the questions. What do you know about God? Give me 5 guesses.”
“I know I can trust him. He’s smart. He loves me. I can’t think of anything else. Can you help me?” I asked her.
“He has lots of animals.”
xoxo
–k
Kristina Grum is a Certified Parent Educator who has over a decade of experience working with children, including being a classroom teacher. She currently teaches parenting classes in her local area and writes about shifting parenthood from barely surviving to thriving.