Parenting: Whose job is it anyway?

I need to call the people at Websters Dictionary. I am looking for just the right word. I know that when a mom or a dad teach their child something it is called parenting. The cynical among us will argue that you don't see that much anymore but none the less, there is a word for it.


This is my problem...what do you call it when a child teaches a parent something?

I vividly remember the story of one such time. When my youngest was about 6 years old we were all experiencing a busy Saturday. I had started my day early with a list of tasks to do and later on that same day everyone else in the family would be dashing off to this or that. Upon my return home early in the afternoon I laid down on the sofa and quickly fell fast asleep, face up, on my back with my feet hanging off the end. Shortly after my return home my wife Lenore left the house. She was off to some sort of church activity. Then my son left the house to spend some time with his friends.

You know how it is when you are trying to sleep on the couch, you are asleep but you manage to hear every closing door and every ringing bell. A few minutes after he left my oldest daughter also left the house. With that last click of a door closing the house was all of a sudden really quite for about 3 minutes.

Then my youngest daughter Maddie came up to me on the sofa. She leaned over the arm rest about 5 inches above my face and said "Wake up dad, it's time to start parenting." Indeed on that particular Saturday I was the last one left to watch over the six year old. Yet in some odd way she was really watching over me.

I have thought about that sentence many times over the years. "Wake up dad, it's time to start parenting." I thought about it the day we dropped my oldest daughter off at college. There is nothing like leaving your child alone to make their own way. Suddenly there is a stream of questions and concerns. Have I taught her everything she needs to know? Does she know how to cook and wash her clothes? Does she know how to get around in a new town? Will she make the right decision when she is confronted with two compelling options?

I found that there didn't seem to be an end to the second guessing. After 18 years of having her always there were the lessons enough? I guess I was about to find out.

I had the same thoughts go through my head as I walked out of the room sending my only son off to Mongolia to serve as a missionary to the people there. What will he teach them? Can he cook? Can he clean up after himself? That one was a real head scratcher because we had not witnessed that first hand too often.

Somehow Carly finished and graduated from college and Andrew did indeed return home from Mongolia after two years of helping serve the people of that far away country. During the time they were away and since they have returned I have learned a lot of things from them. They took on their challenges and acting like adults not children they exceeded expectations.

So what do you call it when your children teach you valuable lessons?

For now, I think that I will just call it life.