By Kara Lawler from Mothering the Divide

My daughter is growing and changing, day by day. And today, I noticed a new quality in her that I haven’t seen before: empathy.

I hit my head today at the park on a low beam (one that clearly said “duck” on it) and I said “ouch.” She was a bit ahead of me, her pink sneakers carrying her chubby little legs, her curls bouncing as she ran. But she heard me and worried I was hurt. She ran back to me and looked up at me with her big blue eyes, concern clear in them, and said “you okay?”

Later, I was on the slide and jokingly said to my husband “ugh, I can’t get up,” more out of exhaustion than anything else. She grabbed my arm and said, “I’ll help you.”

All I could do was kiss her and say thank you. But I truly said a silent prayer of thanks that she’s finding the way, too.

It’s not always easy to parent but in moments like these–the moments when you see that you’re kids are getting it–there really is nothing better.

And as I looked at her eating her ice cream after dinner tonight outside on one of the first nights warm enough to do so, I realized this kid of mine will be okay in the great, wide open. She’s already learned one of life’s greatest lessons.

Day by day, lesson by lesson, you and I, we raise these kids of ours and try to prepare them for the world. And a lesson mastered today might be one that needs reminding tomorrow, but we just keep at it, trying our best to show them the way. And, in the process, they show us the way, too.

This week, open your eyes to the lessons your children show you in the everyday.

Mama Meditations: This column is published weekly on Sundays, by Kara Lawler, right here on the Mama Lovejoy blog. Kara also writes on her own blog, Mothering the Divide, about the divide that is mothering our children, our spirits, and the sacred. Come, join Kara’s tribe on Facebook or Twitter. For more information on the Mama Meditations column, please visit the Mama Mediations page. If you enjoyed this article and you’d like to see more from Mama Meditations or from Mama Lovejoy, you can follow Mama Lovejoy on Facebook, or @Mamalovejoy1 on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Periscope.