We give them so much. We spend so much on them. We are with them so much. Yet almost all of us, if we actually did an accounting of it, fall short in one area.

We just don’t give them all of us very often. That is to say, that when we are with our kids we are not fully with them. We’re at the park with them…but talking to another parent. We’re sitting on the couch with them…and with our phones. We’re hearing about their day…but also still working out something from our own. We’re putting them to bed…but we’re thinking about what we have to do once they fall asleep.

As a result, we miss out on so much. So much ordinary, wonderful stuff. The everyday magic. The special little expressions only they make. The priceless moments that make up childhood.

The greatest gift we can give our children, as we’ve said before, is not presents, but presence. In a way, this is also the gift they give us. In the words of Jean de la Bruyere, the French philosopher, “Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present, which seldom happens to us.”

So let’s learn to receive this gift as much as we give it. Let’s put everything away. Let’s just be right here, right now. Let’s make every moment count.