Parenting is an absolute marathon! When we’re running a marathon, what’s the one thing we should never do? correct! We shouldn’t try to run all the way in, should we? It’s crazy to think we’d be able to sprint the whole thing. We have to run ourselves a marathon. And since parenting is like a marathon, it only makes sense for us parents to pace ourselves through our endless parenting responsibilities and energy expenditures to raise our little ones.
Want to know what cool marathon parenting has to do with a real marathon runner? We parents use different parenting muscles as we run into the marathon, so we don’t tire out as much as real marathon runners do. Real marathon runners don’t use a lot of different muscles. Sure, it’s a little different, but it’s still the same repeated pounding on their knees. Over time, this repeated beating causes real marathon runners to fade in performance.
However, when it comes to parenting marathons, our experience is different. Sure, we still have huge distances to cover and hills to climb, as well as slippery slopes. And every parent will agree that parenting is stressful. It is full of ups and downs with periods of flat long runs and monotony in between all the excitement, or should I say madness. However, unlike true marathon runners who fade with age due to the wear and tear of their muscles, many of our parenting muscles tend to get better with age. With plenty of equal use of experience, we can watch our hard work towards our children developing into amazing people.
Now, as my grandfather always said, “Go learn, lead, and pave the way for a better world for all of us.