Today’s guest post is from Diabetic Parents.
Parenting for us is full time job. So is diabetes. But luckily diabetes doesn’t ever outshine some of the best moments we’ve had as parents. From their first smiles to the silly things they do and say now that their older.
But perhaps the best moment in parenting is watching them grow and learn. As a parent you get the opportunity to be an active participant and an unfortunate bystander to their learning and growth.
It’s hard to watch them learn by trial and error. I remember the times when as babies they would spend hours…even days trying to learn to roll over, crawl, or walk. The frustrated look on their faces just wanted to make you pick them up and hold them close. (Which we will admit to caving in and doing on occasion). You wanted to do everything for that child….but couldn’t. They had to learn this on their own. And it was hard to be the bystander that couldn’t help. They had to do it on their own. As they get older it only gets more difficult to watch them try to tackle a new hobby, get hurt by a good friend, or struggle in school.
But even those moments can’t be tainted by the great moments of parenting. As I write this my labrador Sadie and my son are curled up at the end of my bed watching cartoons. My daughter and I went to watch our first “girls only” movie together. The preschool graduations, and the successful performance of that first school play. The morning hugs and kisses, and the bedtime giggles as we talk about our day when we tuck them in at night. The Sunday morning wrestling matches between Dad and son, and the quiet talks between daughter and Mom. These moments can’t be tainted by a hard day at work or nasty blood sugars.
Parenting is the one job that you wouldn’t want to ever give up or trade. We are so grateful for those precious moments that make our day worth it. I couldn’t imagine a more harder but more life changing job. We can’t imagine our lives without our two children. It’s impossible now that we’ve had them to imagine life without them. We thank our children all the time for the lessons they are teaching us. And we in turn hopefully are teaching them.
Scott and Traci are the owners of www.DiabeticParents.org and their blog http://blog.diabeticparents.org. Scott has had Type 1 diabetes for 28 years (since the age of 4). Scott and Traci have been married for 9 years and have two children. And two dogs who think they are children. They write from their seperate and combined experiences on how diabetes affects them as a person, a spouse, and as a family. You can read more about them on their blog and find more resources available for couples and families with diabetes on their website.