Things That I Have Learned From My Kids

Everyone knows that parents are expected to teach their children a lot of things as part of their responsibilities.  From teaching them manners to helping them learn to read to teaching them how to throw and catch, there are countless things that our kids learn from us parents.  However, what they don’t tell you is how much you also learn from your kids.  In that spirit, here is a list of things that I have learned from my kids:
 

·       Nothing wakes you up faster in the middle of the night than a kid coming in to your room saying “I just threw up.”  You could be in the deepest sleep ever and, as soon as you hear those words, you’re instantly awake as if you’ve been awake for hours.

·        Whoever smelt it dealt it.

·        Conversely, whoever denied it supplied it.

·        SpongeBob Squarepants can be VERY funny…and there’s a lot of humor that is clearly aimed at adults.  (The episode in which SpongeBob and Patrick learn to use “sentence enhancers” is a perfect example.) In a way, SpongeBob and Patrick are the heirs to other “dumb buddies” like Bert & Ernie, Wayne & Garth, and Beavis & Butthead.

·       Few things in life are as humbling, awe inspiring and, quite frankly, frightening as holding your newborn baby for the first time.

·        Pee can really fly and it always seems to come right after you took the diaper off.

·        A lava lamp also doubles nicely as a night light.

·        Our kids are listening to us and picking things up from us even when we don’t realize it.

·        Nothing can be more embarrassing (or frustrating or, sometimes, heartwarming) than hearing your kids repeat something they’ve heard you say.  Whether it’s embarrassing or frustrating or heartwarming depends, to some extent, on what YOU said at some point in the past.

·        You can learn to make, build or draw almost anything by watching YouTube videos.

·        I still hate math, especially fractions.  Fractions are evil.

·        Legos are little more than expensive and fancy dust collectors.

·        Asking Siri what zero divided by zero is results in a funny answer that (for some reason) involves Cookie Monster.

·        There are fewer sign offs and approvals and less security required to buy a car than there are to set up an Xbox account for your underage child.

·        There is no such thing as too many stuffed animals in one’s bed.

·        Cable channels with 24 hour children’s programming are both a blessing and a curse.  They are a blessing because there is ALWAYS a children’s show on when you need one, like if your kid is not feeling well or there’s a storm, etc.  They are a curse because there is ALWAYS a children’s show on when you don’t need one – like when you want to watch your show or you’re trying to get them to go to bed.

·        Few things in this world are more creative than a kid inventing new stall tactics, usually right before bedtime.

·        There’s a thing called “Kidz Bop,” which is nothing more than a series of CDs with kids performing covers of pop songs.  Yes, it’s actually a thing and there are 34 Kidz Bop albums that have sold a total of more than 16 million records.  Why the heck didn’t I come up with that idea?

·        You can actually learn quite a bit by watching “Myth Busters.”

·        MarioKart is awesome.

·        The “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books are actually quite funny – the movies aren’t too bad, either.

·        Time really does fly.  The older I get, the faster that time seems to go by and that is no more apparent to me than when I look at my kids.  It seems like I blinked and they went from being newborns to school age.  I blinked again and now I have a kid who will start high school in less than 5 months.  The passage of time may not be as apparent when I look in the mirror, but when I look at my kids and when I talk to them, it’s amazing how fast they are growing up.

Being a parent has undoubtedly been one of the greatest gifts with which God has ever blessed me.  It’s always thrilling to watch your kids enjoy something that you introduced them to, whether it’s a sport or a game or a show.  However, it’s equally thrilling to see that this learning and growth experience is not a one-way street.  Just as we teach our kids a lot of things during their lives, they teach us a great deal as well.

Thanks for reading!