Skyler Groebli

On Sunday morning we were already running late for church when I walked upstairs and saw a thick yellow puddle outside my son’s door. If you’ve got young kids, you know that nothing good ever comes in that color. I looked at him and asked, “What is this?” He stared at the floor and whispered, “Eggs.” At first I was annoyed. Why in the world would he bring eggs to his room? And because we were late, my patience was thin. So instead of reacting, I walked away for a minute to breathe. When I came back, I got down on his level and said calmly, “Buddy… what happened up here?” He looked up at me with complete seriousness: “Daddy, I kept them in my drawer for two days but they didn’t hatch… and when I checked on them, I accidentally dropped them.” He was trying to hatch refrigerator eggs. My frustration instantly turned into laughter. And when I laughed, I watched his whole body relax. His guard dropped. We were able to talk about why eggs don’t belong in bedrooms without crushing his imagination. It taught me something I never want to forget as a parent: Kids aren’t trying to make our lives harder. They’re learning, testing, imagining, exploring. Our job isn’t to kill that curiosity to save a few minutes of convenience. Our job is to guide them patiently so their creativity grows, not shrinks. Let them be kids. Correct them but don’t crush them because their wonder is a gift worth protecting.