Parenting

Parenting

A small child waits, thumb in mouth, doll in hand, with some impatience, the arrival home of a parent. She wishes to relate some small sandbox experience. She is excited to share the thrill she has known that day. The time comes the parent arrives. Beaten down by the stresses of the workplace the parent so often says to the child, 'Not now, honey. I'm busy, go watch television.' The most often spoken words in many American households, 'I'm busy, go watch television.' If not now, when? 'Later.' But later rarely comes.

Years go by and the child grows. We give her toys and clothes. We give her designer clothes and a stereo but we do not give her what she wants most, our time. She's fourteen, her eyes are glassy; she's into something. 'Honey, what's happening? Talk to me, talk to me.' Too late. Too late. Love has passed us by.

When we say to a child, 'Not now, later.' When we say, 'Go watch TV'; when we say, 'Don't ask so many questions'; when we fail to give our young people the one thing they require of us, our time; when we fail to love a child; we are not uncaring. We are simply too busy to love a child.