Every parent wishes they could have done some things differently. Maybe you wish you were around more when they were a toddler. Maybe you wish you were more patient when they were a teenager. Maybe you wish you said I love you more.

In her amazing book Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be, Dr. Becky Kennedy writes that that’s what she hears all the time:

“There’s one question I hear from parents more than any other: ‘Is it too late?’ My answer is always no. Because it’s always true. Parents often persist: ‘But my child is already three and I’ve heard that the first three years are the most important,’ or ‘But my son is eight and I feel like he’s already so old,’ or ‘My daughter is sixteen; I feel like I’ve lost my chance.’ I sometimes even hear, ‘I’m a grandparent now and I wish I had done all of this differently with my own kids . . . I guess it’s too late, huh?’ Let me say this again. NO. It is not too late to repair and reconnect with your kids and change the trajectory of their development. And it’s also not too late for you. It’s not too late for you to consider what parts of yourself are in need of repair and reconnection; as adults, we can work on rewiring ourselves and changing the trajectory of our own development. It is not too late. It’s never ever ever too late.”

You can’t go back and undo what you’ve done in the past. You can’t magically make up for the mistakes you’ve made. But what you can do is commit to being better, right here, right now. What you can do is be better moving forward. Whether you’re parenting a toddler, a teenager, or even as a grandparent reflecting on the past, it’s not too late. You can always commit to being present, to repairing and reconnecting, to working on yourself.