We are, as parents, perpetually short of time. From the moment we wake up, we’re rushing. To get them ready for school. To get them on the bus. To get to work. To get them to their extracurriculars. To get dinner made. To get dinner cleaned up. To get them ready for bed. To wrap up bedtime. And it’s been the same thing since they were born—getting them to talk and walk and to ride a bike and to drive and everything else.

As important as all these things are—as clear as where we’re going is—it’s worth also asking what we’re rushing from. We are zipping through away from childhood. We are rushing from another bedtime we’ll never get back. To the end of one of only 18 or 20 summers we’ll have with them under our roof. We’re rushing away from right now.

And for what again? Netflix? We are rushing through one of the few hundred dinners before they are sullen, hormonal teenagers for what? The game that’s about to start? We are rushing out early in the 4th quarter of one of the last football games we’ll be able to see together for what? To beat traffic?

There’s no reason to rush. There’s no reason to rush through bedtime or dinner or the game. There’s no reason to rush through anything or to anywhere. Because what we’re rushing from is our children and the limited time we get with them—the amount of which is never guaranteed.

So slow down. Tempus fugit (as we say on our challenge coin). Time flies. Time flies fast enough on its own. Appreciate any time you get with your kids. Don’t rush away from it.. Savor it.