Note to Self...Each One is Different

Don't let the similar faces fool you...They are complete opposites. 

My husband and I have spent the last two hours talking about our kids. This isn't unusual. We have sat and talked about our kids since we met, before our kids were born. Lately though, our conversations have changed. There is less talk about "the kids". Instead the conversations are very child specific.

We usually start with the youngest. She has the least complicated life. After all, she is only two. Then we go up from there. It takes time because although they carry the same genes, they are very different. This becomes more and more apparent as they grow.

They have their own strengths and weaknesses.
They have their own hopes and dreams.
They have their own understandings and confusions.
They have their own struggles and temptations.

They need attention for different things, and they need us to recognize them in different ways. 

They need to be loved the same but different.

As parents, for us to be successful, we continue to realize how individual our actions need to be. Lumping our kids together means we are missing out on what they need and how they need it.

Being a parent is a catch twenty two. Developing an ability to see what your family needs as a whole, while seeing each individual family member as an individual takes work, and faith, and patience. It takes discernment and insight.

It takes a lot of those late night, long conversations where you think and think and pour your heart out about your kids.

You see yourself in each of them. Good and bad. You want them to have experiences, but you want to spare them pain.

Above it all you want them to be happy, to know who they are, what they believe in, and that you love them more than words can ever, ever begin to describe.

You want them to know that it is their differences that you love as much as their similarities.

ARE YOUR KIDS DIFFERENT?
WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR KIDS DIFFERENCES?