Parenting Posts: Life Lessons from Karis to Us

One of the things that is interesting about parenting a child that is 8 months than one that is 3 months is that many of the lessons Karis is learning now we have to learn over and over again as wel get older. These lessons include:

Living within Limits

Karis, as I write, is frustrated. She is frustrated because she cannot grab three things she wants and hold them all at once. She is also frustrated because two things do not fit in her mouth. When she only has two things to hold, she gets frustrated that they are not both in her right hand.

Karis, like all of us, wants everything she wants and she wants it all at once. She gets frustrated when everything does not easily fit into her hand. She wants it to work. She wants someone to fix it. But nobody is going to fix the fact that she has limitations. It is something we all have to learn.

She also has to learn that all of her desires are not meant with instant gratification. This is an important lesson to learn as young as possible. Otherwise she will grow up with an attitude that everything comes easy, and she deserves everything she wants as soon as she wants it.

Life is Be About Learning

One of the fun things to watch about infants is that they are always learning something new. Just a few minutes ago Karis was scratching the Ottoman. She was scratching it because it made a new sound. And when she has discovered a new sound she wanted to hear it again and again.

It seems everyday she is learning something new. And she is excited to learn it. She has learned how to make her little doggie her aunt gave her to sing. She has learned to stand up at her little table. And you can see that she enjoys learning so much.

So many of us are afraid to learn and to grow. We like the worlds we created. I think we need to learn from Karis and be a little bit more teachable each day, each week, each month, and each year of our lives.

How are you learning? How are you choosing to grow?