Please don’t ever think that I say this because I don’t love you enough. No my sons, I say this precisely because I love you so impossibly much.

There is a bigger promise I should have made to you that day as we slipped gold bands of promise around each other’s fingers; one I could not have imagined back then would need a vow to stand behind it.

The newborn days are a puzzle; an intimate game of mother and child figuring each other out. And this game–this season of such beauty–it begs for grace.

We have 936 weeks with our children. Time is short, yet we as parents of today’s society are throwing away 171 weeks of our children’s lives. Redeem that time with these 6 questions.

As a child, many of my evenings were steeped in fables and magical tales. I don’t remember the journey of the mystical creatures. I can’t recollect the voices they spoke in, although I know they were many–and that they captivated me.

What I do recall, with vivid clarity, is my father.

Rather than luxury, give your child the gift of responsibility– a gift that will last them a lifetime! Three surprising insights we gleaned from giving our 1-year-old chores.