HOW MY TODDLER RESCUED ME LAST NIGHT
LIFE LESSONS FROM A TWO-YEAR-OLD
Last night after a difficult Monday of work dealing with different issues with insurance companies and state licensing requirements, I came home ready to unwind and zone out. However, I was greeted by a zealous two-year-old who was ecstatic to see Daddy. After my hug and kiss and a little talk about how daycare was today, we headed inside where I was going to participate in my much-awaited zoning out in front of the TV. Here is where it happened, in a moment’s notice my daughter swooped in and rescued me. She rescued me from myself, from my terrible sabotaging behavior that detracts from the richness in my life.
After we had eaten dinner, I approached the couch just like I always do. My butt hit the cushion, I reclined back, grabbed the remote, and just as I went to hit the power button my daughter closed the door to our basement. This door we keep open for air circulation, and between the open door and the wall we store some of our daughters less used toys. Annoyed, I got up to re-open the door and she cried out for her toy; an 8-foot-long collapsible tunnel made for toddlers and babies to crawl in. Really just wanting to avoid a total meltdown, I opened the tunnel for her and went to take my place back on the couch for my much-anticipated zoning out. It wasn’t long before I noticed my daughter’s laughter accompanied by my 7-month-old sons giggles at his sister playing with him. At this time, it came into focus that I was missing out. The real show, the real experience I needed was happening right in front of me and I was about to miss it to watch someone else do neat things on TV. Immediately I jumped on the floor and participated in fatherhood the way I should. My night became so much more therapeutic and fulfilling than it ever would have been with the distractions provided by screen time.
“Children are a gift from the LORD;
they are a reward from Him”
Psalm 127:3
After some reflection of this today I have come to the conclusion that my daughter indeed has rescued me from myself. I am reminded of Psalm 127:3 that children are a gift from the Lord. And I find it undeniable that while I teach my daughter how to get along in the world, she often teaches me how rich I really am in spirit. It is easy for me and many of my clients to get bogged down with the never-ending cycle of earning money to provide for our families. A direct result of this is that we check out of the real experiences we are supposed to be participating in all for the sake of ‘relaxing’ after a long day. What my daughter taught me here was that I have some bad habits that follow the path of least resistance, yielding very little value in my life. I can break it down to a simple equation:
Screentime in-Lieu-of Family Time X Multiple Days a Week = Emptiness & Spiritual Poverty
The lesson learned from my daughter would look like this:
Engage my Family as a Discipline X Multiple Days a Week = Realizing my Spiritual Wealth
Some of us are blessed with monetary wealth but most of us get caught up chasing it and are blinded to the real wealth in our lives, our gifts from God. This can be our kids, our family, our community, or even just the plain ability for our pursuit of happiness. Thanks to my daughter I realize just how wealthy I really am; my spiritual bank account is overflowing, and I didn’t even realize it.
It is so easy to go into an autopilot mode with the demands of work that we often come home and plug into entertainment. It comes in the forms of scrolling on phones, looking for 2 hours on Netflix to find something to watch, then watching something on Netflix, diving deep into social media, and/or following the breaking stories on your news outlet of choice. The result is that we end up feeling unfulfilled, more irritated, and what’s worse is we pass this behavior on to our children for them to contend with for their whole lives. It is time we establish healthy boundaries with technology and entertainment in order to prevent developing and addiction like dependence.
-Travis