“Any place is a hidden treasure if you get there early,” as Melissa Peterson of St. Paul says, and truer parenting words have not been spoken. (Well, maybe that line about how “as soon as you figure them out, they’re on to something new” — I’ve found that to be as true as it gets.) This month, so many of you, like Melissa, generously shared your hidden treasures — making them, de facto, not so hidden anymore (see page 40).
Maybe Melissa and I have run into each other, then, as we sashayed into the Children’s Museum or the Minnesota Zoo at 9:01 a.m., or at the local wading pool at (I’m not joking) 7 a.m., or at our favorite, crowded family dinner place at 5:01 p.m. (notice how I’m not telling you where!). Maybe she’s the lone other parent at Edinborough Park at 9 a.m. on a Sunday, exchanging curious looks with me: “Where on earth is everyone else, and do their kids really sleep this late?”
My kids have always been early risers, especially as the sun creeps in around their curtains at 5:30 on summer mornings. I have fond memories of pushing the double stroller around the neighborhood on weekend mornings, looking for signs advertising garage sales and waiting for them to open (yes, it was that early). Even today, when the kids can reach the cereal cupboard and almost reach the milk in the fridge, they still want parental company as soon as their little eyes open.
I sense that this is one of those parenting things that I’ll miss when it’s over, even as I long for just a few more minutes of uninterrupted sleep or a moment to myself in the mornings. Or maybe my kids, like Melissa’s, will grow up thinking of opening times as deadlines.
Make the most of this year’s crop of hidden treasures! I can’t wait to hear what you’re willing to divulge next year.
