Let me just preface this whole blog post by admitting that I am pretty much the farthest thing that you could find from being a parenting expert. In spite of that, I found that this last week, thoughts about how I could be a better parent had me somewhat preoccupied. Whenever any of our assessment periods roll around, I tend to feel pretty awful about the job that I am doing in rearing these two little people. The feeling usually comes about with every comment that I make to my children about how I need to get some studying done when they would like me to take them somewhere or play a game. While I try to do the bulk of my work after they are in bed, it doesn’t always pan out that way. Mom-guilt is a very real thing. This month has been especially rough with all of the board exam preparations on top of everything else. With all of the tasks that pull me from spending time with them, I have been looking for small things that we can share. In an ideal world, when my kids look back at this period of time in their lives, I hope that they will have plenty of memories filled with fun.

This past week I got a chance to have one of those small yet memorable moments with my kiddos, literally a once in a blue moon occurrence, an astronomical phenomenon. It was the second full moon in January, during its closest approach to Earth in a single orbit, turned red by the light of dawn, and on top of all of that, it was a complete lunar eclipse, thus making it a Super Blue Blood Moon. The last time all of these things happened on the same day was in 1866. So, at a little before 6 o’clock on Wednesday morning, I got everyone up and dressed. We sat on out on the cold back porch wrapped in a blanket and eating breakfast, while we watched the moon disappear in the Earth’s shadow. There was excitement and laughter, conversation and learning, and for a small moment, I felt like maybe I was pretty good at this parenting thing after all. The total cost of this priceless experience, 30 minutes of sleep, not bad at all. 

In a program like this one, it’s hard to make sizable time commitments to anything other than school work. But time is an abstract thing, the amount does not matter anywhere near as much as the quality. So even if you only have few minutes, if you are fully present, listening, and not immediately dismissing the interaction just because you are busy, you can make someone’s day. Quality time can come from anywhere. And with that folks, I am going to make some quality study time…see you next week!