Here’s a question I’ve been sitting with lately: Can we truly delight in our children if we don’t know what it means to delight in ourselves?
When we don’t feel joy in our own lives, it’s easy to slip into survival mode—checking off the next thing, running on empty, and unintentionally passing that stress along to our kids. But when we tend to our own sense of delight, it naturally spills over into the way we parent.
I recently heard a story of parents with five children, one of whom is on the autism spectrum. They felt like they were drowning under the demands of daily life. The advice they received was simple but profound: Take a 10-minute walk every day.
It didn’t need to be long. It didn’t even need to be convenient. But that small act of self-care could create margin and help them give from a place of overflow rather than depletion.
I was also reminded of a father of four whose child suddenly began experiencing unexplained seizures. His first instinct was to stay up all night researching, calling experts, and pushing himself harder. But he realized what their family needed most wasn’t frantic striving—it was rest, play, and presence. As he put it: “We didn’t know how long this season would last. The best thing we could do was care for ourselves and enjoy the gift of our family.”
Both stories point to the same truth: We communicate love and delight to our kids not by solving every problem, but by showing up with presence, joy, and connection—even in hard circumstances.
So here’s a gentle encouragement for this week:
- Take a short walk.
- Play a song you love.
- Call a friend.
- Do one small thing that fills you up.
Your delight in yourself matters. And it will ripple outward into the lives of your children.
This wisdom comes from a recent conversation with therapist and author Sissy Goff, and I’m so grateful for her reminder that delight begins with us: Parenting Kids with Disabilities: The Power of Delight with Sissy Goff
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