one to one

I was at my church camp in the past week. I was looking forward to it for many reasons. One of it was the opportunity to spend time with my family - away from the usual routines of school, schoolwork, cooking etc - before school restarts and the stresses the children face limit my leisure time with them. But what turned out was something I hardly expected. My eldest bunked in with a fellow youth and was among other youths throughout the camp so I hardly saw him [but we did have a good chat after the camp at delifrance over coffee break ...]; number two was so busy with CCA and DSA that she had to pull out of camp last minute; number three volunteered for some artwork Programme in the camp and was so committed that, though she shared room with us, we only saw her just before sleeping time and a little after waking time. My wife was also too busy for me - my mother in law came for the camp and she needed to help her around. So only one person in the family had time for me: the youngest 5-year old. Well, it meant that all that my wife usually does with him - feeding him, helping him during sermon time, watching over his safety, bringing him to the pool, showering him etc - was taken over by yours truly. For the first few hours, I could sense that he was not used to second-rate service. [dad doesn't fuss around him so much, doesn't give him many options of food, is stricter with his manners etc]. After a while, he learnt to accept the fact that dad would be 'mum' for much of the camp. As it turned out, it was a blessing in disguise. I realized the last few days was a period that I spent the most time with my youngest child. I watched over every detail of his life and learnt to enjoy his company with me throughout the day. This is something I never get to do on normal days when I had to distribute my time among four (not to forget also time with my wife). It just occurred to me that it is a priceless blessing to watch in close quarter and share in the experience of my growing child in the significant milestones of growth in his life: able to read, able to feed himself, able to swim without floats ... It is a good reminder that I should spend more time to enjoy my children (not just corporately, but also individually) as they are growing up fast. Once past, that earlier stage of their lives cannot be 'relived'. So we shouldn't think of it as responsibility or duty, but rather as a pleasure and blessing.