Mom & Dad: Let Your Kids Be Little (Big Comes Soon Enough)! Parenting Tip of the Day

My daughter is a Little League baseball player. I love seeing her play, seeing her be a part of a team. I feel immense pride when she hits the ball and runs with her whole self. She is 8. I let her be 8. I remind her to just have fun. I love when one and a half hours into the game she plays in the sand (it is a long time for an 8-year-old to stand and follow directions). We parents are letting life get too serious too fast … let them stay little. 

There will come a day, very soon, that she will take on more and be expected to be stronger or faster. There will be a day that she might try to master pitching, but today she is 8. I want her to just love learning to be a team, being excited when she wins, OK when she loses. I want her to look back at me and smile as she runs to meet her team, always.