500 Fridays Newsletter - 3 min read Season: The Full Fall (11 of 12)

The 950 Weeks

As a general rule of thumb, there are 950 weeks between when your son or daughter is born and when they go to college.

As of today [when this was last written], we are at Week 910 with our youngest.

The weeks below read like a long story you are in the middle of. You'll recognize some scenes and anticipate others.

I share them to hopefully remind you to be present. Yes, I miss some things from the past and yes I will have future moments too. But being present today, in the hard and the good, is the most fruitful.

Week 1: she cried all night
Week 10: she cooed and smiled
Week 40: she stood up
Week 50: she said "uh-oh"
Week 70: she flushed your keys down the potty
Week 130: she went to the potty
Week 140: she used your wall as a coloring book
Week 182: she rolled her eyes at you
Week 206: she made you a macaroni necklace
Week 234: she only answered to "Anna of Arendelle"
Week 260: she began kindergarten
Week 295: she wrote a story about you
Week 315: she spoke in "Pig Latin" for two days
Week 338: she got her first visit from the Tooth Fairy
Week 364: she stopped believing in the Tooth Fairy
Week 364: she also stopped believing in Santa
Week 387: she charged you for a painted rock
Week 403: she got braces
Week 416: she had homework that confused you
Week 438: she made up a dance for the talent show
Week 459: she had her first sleepover
Week 478: she shaved her legs
Week 494: she outgrew the kids menu
Week 513: she beat you at Monopoly
Week 522: she put on make-up
Week 550: she asked for a smart phone
Week 551: she begged for a smart phone
Week 572: she entered middle school
Week 572: she decided she was smarter than you
Week 597: she got her braces taken off
Week 600: she started her period
Week 624: she got a smart phone
Week 645: she decided she was a vegetarian
Week 646: she only ate hamburgers
Week 676: she legally posted on Instagram
Week 728: she attended her first high school class
Week 735: she asked when she could officially date
Week 780: she got her driver's learning permit
Week 784: she backed into the garage door
Week 806: she got her first paycheck
Week 819: she was grounded for a month
Week 820: she started unofficially dating
Week 832: she got her driver's license
Week 858: she took the ACT
Week 861: she took Harvard off her list of colleges
Week 884: she broke up with her boyfriend
Week 895: she went to her last summer camp
Week 900: she started her senior year
Week 928: she went to prom
Week 936: she graduated from high school
Week 946: she took a solo road trip to visit a friend
Week 950: she moved into the college dorm

​Hours, Days, Months, & Years

When your child is born, you literally measure in hours and days. You count how long it's been since they've last eaten or how long they slept.

As they get older, you begin to measure in months. How long till they can walk or feed themselves. How many months until they leave the terrible 2s?

When they start school, you begin to measure in years and eventually in groups of years or extended seasons. How long are they in middle school or junior high?

Somewhere in high school, as they get closer to leaving home, the time calculations reverse. Suddenly you're back to measuring in months again. It's 20 months, then 15, and then 6.

Now that our youngest daughter is about to move to college we are back to measuring in hours and days. It's funny how the cycle of parenting goes. It's a good reminder to always strive to be present.

Trust me, you have more time than you know and less than you think.

See you next Friday,
Finley

500 Fridays ... book coming soon ​ Stories & Strategies To Help Parents of 3-13 Year Old's Make A Decade Count