Years ago when my kids were approximately 2 & 5 we were having breakfast across from a Petco. My son had asked if we could go over and look at the fish after we were done. My first reaction was to look at the time. I wasn't exactly looking to spend part of my day off being the Marine Biologist my kids were sure to expect me to be. I of course caved in and we went across the parking lot to look at the fish. There we went from tank to tank oooing and awing,pointing and tapping at the wall of tanks. I tried my best to hurry them along so we could leave and I could continue with my"important" life. Sometime after that morning I attended an open house at my sons school. As I made my way over to a wall covered in Crayola art I noticed a familiar scene. There on the wall was a crayon drawing of a father holding a little girls hand to his left and a little boys hand to his right standing in front of a wall of fish tanks. The caption read, "one of the best days of my life." The name of the artist was Cristiano Contreras.
Being a parent is a hard job, and it is a job. We can, and I certainly have, at times forget that it is a much more important job then the one we earn a living with. We get busy and we get tired, and we can to easily dismiss the little wants and desires of our kids. It's important to remind ourselves that sometimes the most insignificant act to us has an enormous impact on those who,both literally and figuratively, look up to us.
