Change is constant… growth is optional??

Not too long ago on a rainy Thursday afternoon.   My boys grabbed their rain-boots as we prepared to go out for the day.  Michael was able to slip his on with relative ease….  Wm. took a bit more work and when he finally did get them on and took a few steps he winced and cried  “daddy it hurts”  Yes….  my boys had finally come to outgrow the infamous  “monkey boots”   If you’ve read some of my previous posts you’re very familiar with these boots. The boys hadn’t worn them all Summer and it never dawned on me that perhaps they had outgrown them or the boots would be a bit snug since last Spring. 


I tried everything… thin socks….no socks.   William's foot simply had outgrown his shoes.  Which isn’t so surprising…. he has a full 2” on his brother.   Wm. is a bit stubborn….  he tried again to wear the boots only to again experience the pain and awkwardness of wearing a shoe two sizes too small.   He cried and cried…..  of course it didn’t help that Michael was prancing around in his boots.   For the first time in a long time I felt helpless.  There was nothing I could do to make that boot fit.  I tried my best to explain to Wm. that he was a big boy and his foot had got too big for “monkey boots”   Of course , to a 3 yr old that means little,  they just know they want to wear them right then and there.

It was then that I realized that my boys right before my very eyes are growing.  Not  just with their feet, but in every way.  Someone once said…. “Change is constant…. growth is optional”  but I wonder is it really optional?  I think in some cases growth is just as inevitable as change.  Or maybe growth in children is constant because they don’t know any better to resist growth.  As adults when we don’t grow mentally…..perhaps it’s because we choose not to.   Since the boys have been born….  over these past 3 years I’ve seen growth in myself…..   as person, as a dad.   I’ve had to grow…. I feel like I didn’t have a choice.  If I want to be the best I can for my boys then I will have to continue to grow with them. 

Like Wm experienced…. growth isn’t always pleasant.  It means letting go of some things.   Whether  it be Sippy cups, toddler beds, or rain boot,s the boys will many times have to let go of things they enjoy or are very fond of to move on to the next thing.  The same holds true for me as well.  The day or time will come when trips to Entertrainment Junction, the park and even Target will become irrelevant or the boys will “outgrow” those things. 

I enjoy watching my boys grow…… in every way.  If they are growing that means we’re doing something right I suppose.  In revisiting the quote….  I’m not quite sure that growth IS optional….but how  and if we adjust and adapt to that growth is what’s optional. 

Thanks for reading.
Teddy