There are times, as busy parents, when we forget just how valuable each and every moment spent with our children can be.  Our most important job is to teach them how to live productive, fulfilling lives. In our rush to juggle it all, it is easy to forget that every experience we have with our children is an opportunity to guide them.

No parent is perfect.  Even though we sometimes make bad decisions, there is usually an opportunity to get back on track, right around the corner.

Sometimes, we are left standing cold and frustrated, in a windy parking lot, at a loss of how to convince our three year olds to sit still long enough for our frozen fingers to properly fasten their seat belt.

We don’t always jump in to dispute an older sibling’s elaborate story of having to ride in the trunk, so Mommy doesn’t get a ticket.

We forget that we should probably stop her pleas, to an easily frightened little brother, to sit still because it is cold and dark in there, and she just can’t lose another baby brother to the vampires that she suspects live in that trunk.

Mostly because it is working in our favor (you now understand the monikers Wednesday and Lady Dementia).

We know that the only accomplishment gained from these types of experiences are for the short term, avoiding frostbite is not a good enough excuse to passively encourage severe emotional damage.

But we should also remember that parenting is a process. We have to move on from our guilt.

In a few short hours, we may have the golden opportunity to prove that we will always be there for them.

We can use something as routine as, another explosive bout of diarhhea, this time in the dining room of a  favorite restaurant, to show our unconditional love. We don’t hestitate to run into the men’s room, because a teenager has locked the women’s room door after a loud, public argument with her mother.

We can teach important lessons about problem solving and responsibility to our families, by having an older sibling lock herself, her brother and his disgusting stench in the men’s room, while we run to our car and get a blanket, because there was no other choice than to throw away every single stitch of clothing he had on.

We can teach our children a lesson on courtesy, as we apologetically inform the cashier, that while we cleaned up as much as possible with the resources we had, they should probably sanitize the men’s room and take out the trash as soon as possible.

We can give an example of self confidence as we leave a restaurant, we fully intend on returning to, carrying a child who after a seemingly miraculous recovery is now singing a song about his “penis in a blanket” at the top of his lungs, we stop just long enough to grab a take out menu.