It is a gift to be observed

The need to model a healthy relationship with technology for our kids can feel like a burden. But it is also a profound gift.

Our oldest child is nine. Perhaps it’s the advent of fourth grade, but she is seeming to age years by the day right now. I try not to look at this too directly — soaking her up as she is while only squinting at a fuzzy future where she no longer lives in our home full-time — but lately, John has been staring into the sun. And he finds the horizon heartbreaking.

I do, too, of course. A home without our precious, unrepeatable children careening around corners or curled up on the sofa, reading, will feel empty. Shadowed. Somber.

Recently, I’ve also come to worry that it will feel purposeless. Or, at least, less purposeful.