What most people will tell you if you ask what they want for their children, they’ll tell you happiness. I didn’t truly understand this until becoming a parent. There is no way to describe the feeling you get when you see a smile cross your child’s face, or when you witness their excitement or their pride after a job well done. We want our children to experience the best in life, to fit in, to succeed. We want our children to know joy.
This past Halloween, as we walked door-to-door trick or treating, I was thinking about the many, many, many, many things we do for our children in order to bring them joy. I realized how much joy I actually got from this occasion because I saw the joy on the children’s faces. The same goes for other holidays and just everyday events – the fun for parents is amplified by children and their joy. Sure, it’d be nice to sometimes have no activities planned – to just sit on the couch and enjoy a day of relaxation. These days are few and far between, yet all the hustle and bustle is made worth it when little smiles are the reward at the end of a busy, joy-filled day.