Your children approach you over and over to show you something. They are proud. They are excited. They want to share these emotions with you.

So get excited for them. Be proud with them. Laugh at the comic just drew. Say you love the drawing they brought to show you. That impromptu LEGO sculpture? Say it’s awesome.

And mean it from the bottom of your heart.

It doesn’t even have to take long. Sometimes, just 15 seconds.

Refusing to mirror their emotions will deflate them. It shrivels their spirit. They want to share their spirit and vitality with you. It is a precious gift, and if you don’t accept that gift, it grows smaller.

Sure, they seem to want to show you something at the worst possible time. You’re on a call. You’re in the middle of something where you need to concentrate. Your hands are full.

But one day, your child will come to show you something for the last time. It will be one of the saddest days of your life and you won’t even notice it.

Only later, the memory will creep up on you as a dull ache, like an old wound you had forgotten about. The only balm for that wound will be the knowledge that you cherished every moment.

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