Children Interrupt Everything
I remember a middle-aged woman once said this to me and my wife: “Children interrupt everything.” She was attempting to persuade us to not have children “so young,” and she went on to detail just how needy and interrupting a baby can be. “Children interrupt meals,” she said, “They interrupt conversations. They interrupt movies. They interrupt intimacy. And they interrupt sleep!”
I thought that I had long forgotten that conversation and that lady. However, during my first two weeks of parenthood, I have found myself pondering those words over and over again.
And now, twelve days into life with a newborn, I can say, for the first time, that I understand some of what she was saying.
You see, three days ago, Wells woke up—screaming the way newborns scream when they are hungry. I retrieved a pre-prepared bottle of milk from our fridge, picked up my son, cradled him in my left arm, and fed him while we sleepily stared into each other’s eyes. It was a beautiful father-son moment that I honestly did not want to end.
That’s when the interruption happened.
My eyelids got heavy. My head, even heavier. And darkness shrouded my vision. A few seconds later (or maybe it was a few minutes!), I shook myself awake and again stared into the eyes of my son. Cue heavy eyelids. Cue heavy head. Cue darkness. Some ambiguous amount of time passed, and I once again shook myself awake!
This cycle repeated itself at least two more times before the bottle was empty. I burped Wells, rocked him back to sleep, laid him down, and got back in my own bed. As I lay in bed, I couldn’t help but remember what that woman had told us: “Children interrupt everything.” Oh how wrong she was. Or better yet, oh how one-sided her focus was!
It is true that Wells's cries of hunger initially woke me from my sleep. However, it is also true that sleep took me away from Wells while I was feeding him. Do you see what I'm getting at?
Yes, children might interrupt everything. However, everything makes a frequent habit of interrupting children, too! And to only focus on the first part of that equation depicts parents and caretakers as victims of their children, when instead parents and caretakers should be depicted as expert decision makers—balancing work, life, and love like only parents can.
Reader, the way you view life is the product of the way you value life. People who value work over everything else will more than likely view children as interruptions, whereas people who value family over everything else will more than likely view work as the interruption. We could easily throw money, romance, food, and any other desire in the mix and see how your desires stack up against each other. But for now, we'll keep our focus on kids.
How do you view your children in relation to your work? How do you view your children in relation to your spouse or significant other? How do you view your children in relation to you? There are no right and wrong answers to these questions, but there are honest and dishonest ones.
As humans, as parents, as workers, and as sleepers, we must steward—"take care of”—of our relationships and our time in a way that gives priority to what is important to us. We must make sure that we are prioritizing what we value.
Here's to 2021 and prioritizing our desires!
Much love and thanks for reading,
Justis Ward
To read more about prioritizing your desires and dealing with "interruptions," read my article,
