All Timmy wanted for Christmas was TIME

Did you see Grey’s Anatomy last night? If you did, and you are a parent, you probably know what I’m going to talk about, and it’s not the explosion of pregnant TV actresses (what is up with the girls on How I Met Your Mother? Don’t drink the water on THAT set.)

Anyway. On Grey’s, there was a little girl who was dying of Tay-Sachs disease, and it was very sadly portrayed. As she was entering her last stages, her father, frantic to find a little more time, was looking into alternative treatments in Mexico, spending the last few hours of her life on the phone. Meanwhile, the little girl was being rocked and held by one of the doctors. Fortunately the father figured out that all he needed to do was just hold his daughter until she passed, spending the last little bit of time she had with her. I sobbed into my (now-empty) wineglass and my (very patient) husband patted my back.

It occurred to me that often, as parents, we are frantically busy doing many things for our children, and while many of those things cannot be avoided, many can be put aside to just give our kids our time. It’s sort of like spending time trolling the internet to get ideas for activities and crafts, and then being annoyed when our children interrupt us to ask if we want to play trains. Not that this has EVER happened to me, I’m just saying. Usually they just want you to spend time with them, and it’s the nature of children not to really care if you have anything else on the go.

I think it’s a sad part of our society these days that kids are often viewed as inconvenient – their need for time and attention, their incessant hunger, their very being. It can really cramp your style, the whole having kids thing. But the thing is, they are little for a very short period of time. That period of time, where they want to spend time with you, where they want you to play with them, or colour a picture, or do a puzzle, or play Hungry Hungry Hippos for the millionth time – this period is short, and fleeting, and needs to be cherished. Even when you feel like another game of farm animals may just suck you dry. I’m just saying.