Lessons...

Amazing childhood patience and lessons learned at the hands of our babies...

So, like many parents I have often complained about the hassles of being a parent. The difficulty of balancing a career with a child, the exhaustion of coming home from work just to clean, cook, and help with homework. The seemingly endless march of parental stuff one has to go through.

However, in the midst of all this kvetching I have often been given the opportunity to realize how well behaved and helpful my child is, and how lucky I am. This past week was an excellent example of just such an opportunity.

I usually drop Monkey off at school and go to work for five hours until it is time to pick her up. Sometimes she hangs out at the office for an hour or two after school while I finish something up. I have felt lucky that she likes the office enough that she will do that.

However, this past week she had half days wednesday through friday. I was worried that I would have to have her at the office too long, that I wouldn't be able to get her to be well behaved long enough for me to get any extended work done. This was not the case.

This thursday she was at the office with me for seven and a half hours. She did not complain, she was not disruptive. She hung out, colored, played with paper airplanes, did her homework, and watched television while I worked on a deadline. She was an angel. She really, really likes it there.

As we were leaving, I thanked her for coming to the office with me and being so helpful. She responded with "You know how I use to come to law school with you? This is kind of like that. I missed it. I like to come to work with you."

I gave her a huge hug and told her how very lucky I am to have her for a daughter. I thought it was amazing she could sit through an hour and a half long law class when she was three, I am blown away that she can hang out at my office for a full working day at five.

I will have to do my best to remember this when I am caught up in the daily labor of parenting. If she can be happy to be with me at the office, even though it can't be as much fun as being home, I should be happier to come home after work and cook, clean, and help with homework. It is a pretty decent trade off for having such an amazing child.