Have you watched your child blossom lately? Have you just sat back and watched him grow and mature? We spend so much time and effort helping our children grow and learn; it's easy to miss the unplanned moments when they blossom. Sometimes you probably feel like your efforts are all in vain, but when you catch these moments, you realize that your child is paying attention, is listening, is learning, is growing. And that's an amazing feeling! I had the opportunity to catch a few of those moments this weekend.

We had Vacation Bible School at our church last week. At the end of the week my daughter was asked to prepare a couple of sentences about what she learned and to share it with the congregation on Sunday morning. She's pretty shy, so this was a big thing for her. She wasn't feeling well part of the week, so she was concerned that she had missed out on the parts she should talk about. We talked about it and with very little prompting she wrote up her "speech". It was very well thought out.

As I mentioned, she's shy, so after preparing her sentences she began to think about having to present it in front of a crowd of people. The thought made her very nervous. Again, I was impressed by the consideration she gave to the matter even though she's just a tween. She advised that she couldn't look at me because I would make her laugh. (She didn't mean I would try to distract her, just that she would remember the silliness we share and that would make her laugh.) She also advised me that the trick where you imagine the audience in their underwear didn't work for her. I gave her a couple of other options and she decided she was going to just concentrate on reading her paper and not worry about the audience.

When her turn came on Sunday morning she strode right up to the microphone, lifted it out of the cradle, and spoke clearly and confidently. I was SO proud of her. She had taken something that was scary and faced it courageously. And I got to watch her blossom, just like a beautiful flower opening its petals right before my eyes. 

This week I want to encourage you to watch your child blossom. These are precious moments that you will treasure. They will also encourage you, so don't miss them! 

From my parent's heart to yours,

Joy 

**********

Joy Goodman is a mom whose mission is to encourage parents and to celebrate joys of being a parent.