As my first kiddo crosses the threshold from baby to to toddler, I’ve been pondering what that transition means as a parent.
The biggest shift I sense is the type of attention you give them.
With a newborn (and later an older baby), a parent’s attentional powers have pretty a clear directive:
Keep this child alive.
This broad directive has sub-directives, too:
- Don’t let this child go hungry.
- Don’t let this child hurt themselves.
- Stop the flow of tears.
But these directives—while still in force, obviously (don’t remove your outlet protectors!)—are joined by another:
Embrace your child’s wonder at the world.
Toddlers are amazing little people. With their delight in things, they remind the adults in their lives of what we have forgotten about the world, a world we mostly move through blindly, having accepted its wonder and strangeness as everyday.
Because toddlers start to consider the world this way, our attention should shift, too.
Danger still lurks, obviously—stairs will be a concern until my kid turns 10, I’m sure—but I feel we owe it to our kids (and ourselves!) to look at the world as holding more than just potential dangers.
After all, one reason we have children is to see things anew, to look at the world through their unknowing gaze. But, to do that, we have to let some of that fear slide…
Taylor Coe 