What Do You Enjoy About Your Child
Last Tuesday, I was already late for school drop-off when my six-year-old asked, “Do clouds have feelings?” I said, “Probably not,” because I am a practical adult with a car k...
Last Tuesday, I was already late for school drop-off when my six-year-old asked, “Do clouds have feelings?” I said, “Probably not,” because I am a practical adult with a car keys problem. He nodded, thought for a second, and then asked, “Then why do they cry?”
That tiny moment—equal parts annoying and astonishing—is what I enjoy most about my child. Not the birthday parties or the certificate for excellent standing-in-line, but the strange, unedited way he sees the world. You know the feeling, right?
We talk a lot about what children need from us: patience, structure, snacks, a functioning Wi-Fi connection. But we rarely ask the reverse question: What do you actually enjoy about your child? Not love, not duty—enjoy.
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The Joy Is in the Unscripted Moments
Parenting books love milestones. First steps, first words, first time they sleep through the night—which, by the way, may not happen until college. But the real texture of enjoyment usually hides in the ordinary.
It’s the way your kid narrates a trip to the grocery store like it’s an action movie. It’s the dance move they invented in the kitchen while you were burning dinner. It’s the two-minute cuddle that resets your entire nervous system.
Researchers sometimes call this savoring: deliberately noticing and lingering on positive moments. You don’t need a lab coat to try it. You just need to stop treating every delightful thing your child does as background noise.
Their Questions Rewire Your Brain
Children ask somewhere around 300 questions a day, depending on whose study you cite and how tired you are. Why is the sky blue, why do people have eyebrows, and why can’t dogs eat chocolate but can eat a dead squirrel?
I’m joking—mostly. Their curiosity is relentless, weird, often inconvenient, and also a gift.
When you answer those questions—or admit you don’t know—you get to borrow their beginner’s mind. You see familiar things as strange again. That’s not just charming; it’s a small antidote to adult cynicism.
Infant & toddler music classes | Pacific MO | Dynamic Fine Arts Academy
The Comedy Is Free and Sometimes Sticky
Kids are unintentional comedians. They mispronounce words, take metaphors literally, and deliver brutal honesty with the confidence of a TED Talk speaker.
My child once told me my singing sounded like a “friendly lawnmower.” I have thought about that for three years: Was it a compliment, an insult, or a diagnostic tool?
If you can laugh at the absurdity, you’ll enjoy parenting more—not every moment, but more of them. Humor is a coping skill disguised as joy.
You See Yourself, but Not Exactly
It’s strange to watch a small person inherit your eyebrow raise, your stubborn streak, or your irrational fear of pigeons. They are partly a mirror, partly a remix.
That can be humbling and hilarious. You realize you’re not raising a mini-you, but a separate human who shares your snack preferences.
Enjoying your child means enjoying who they actually are, not who you assumed they’d be. That shift takes practice, especially if you’re a recovering control freak. (Aren’t we all?)
The Fierce Love Sneaks Up
There’s a reason people say parenting is like having your heart walk around outside your body. It sounds dramatic until your kid waves from across the playground and you nearly weep into your coffee.
The Right Words Matter: How to Encourage Your Child in Play and Sport
Biologically, bonding involves oxytocin and lots of sleeplessness. Emotionally, it involves realizing you’d fight a bear for someone who refuses to wear pants.
But enjoyment is not the same as love: love can feel heavy, while enjoyment feels light. You need both, but don’t forget the light.
How to Notice What You Enjoy
Try this tonight: name one specific thing your child did today that made you smile—not “they were good,” but “they made up a song about the cat’s secret life.”
Then tell them. Kids hear plenty about what they should improve, but they rarely hear, “I just enjoy being around you.” That sentence can land like sunlight.
You can also keep a note on your phone called Small Things. Add one line when you remember. Over a year, you’ll have a treasury of tiny joys.
Will this make every day magical? No—some days you’ll just be trying to survive until bedtime, and that’s normal.
But the question remains worth asking. What do you enjoy about your child? The answer might surprise you, soften you, or at least make you laugh when they ask why clouds cry.
