How a Pair of Tiny Tennis Shoes Reminded This Mother To Slow Down & 'Let Them Be Little'
These shoes… You know the ones every “not a parent” or even some parents cringe at the thought of their child running around in light-up character shoes. Yeah, I was that parent.
The one who talked my child into “more attractive” shoes in the store or at least the ones I liked. You know, the ones that didn’t have a paw patrol or mickey mouse on the top for the world to see?
I bought a pair yesterday…
Don’t get me wrong. I like to dress my kids nice but these shoes taught me a lesson.
Lately, I’ve been praying that the Lord would remind me to slow down and enjoy my children in this phase of life because I know just how fast it passes by and I hate the idea of missing something.
I want to embrace these moments. The good and the bad.
I want them to have a childhood they remember and look back on with happiness.
I want to remember every step of it myself but for now, I want to enjoy it!
Yesterday, we went to Walmart to get my son a pair of tennis shoes.
As I was deciding on the tennis shoes that would go with most anything. You know the ones that look like something an adult would wear themselves… My husband showed my son these paw patrol shoes (paw patrol is his fave right now).
I laughed and said, “You would show him those. Don’t do that to me.”
My husband simply replied, “He loves them. Let him be a kid.”
My son literally grabbed the shoes I was holding and put them back on the shelf as he sat down for his daddy to help him put on these paw patrol light up fashion statement.
It didn’t hit me until later as I watched my son show off his light up shoes to his cousins and wear them with such excitement, that I realized how right my husband was.
A small voice replayed in my head “Let them be little!” It was something simple like light up shoes that reminded me of what I’ve been praying for…
To be in the moment. To enjoy his childhood. To let him be little because he’s only that way for such a short time.
In ten years, he won’t ask me for light shoes or paw patrol stuff. So here’s to the tacky shoes that make my baby happy and a mama who needed a reminder from above.
This story was published with permission from the author, Rachel Bailey, and originally appeared on her Facebook page. Follow her on Facebook at The Modest Mama.
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