“The child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering.”

— Benjamin Spock

Contemplating what I had given yesterday, I wandered into our daughter’s room.

“Did I give you anything today?” I asked our daughter who was reading in her bed.

“Yeah, you helped me with my martial arts test review.” she replied. “Oh, and if you really want to give something valuable, you can bring me that bag of Cheetos on the counter.”

I politely declined.

It seemed that in this instance, the most valuable gift was what was not given.

Or, maybe it was just good parenting.

Yesterday’s gift of time … Did not bring our daughter a bag of Cheetos in bed … Did do about a thousand loads of laundry, or so it seemed … Also, hosted our son’s friend for a couple nights this weekend.