Caregiver

As a parent, that’s primarily what you do in the early years. You’re a caregiver. You feed, bathe, clothe, transport to medical appointments, etc. Every basic caregiving task falls to you. That’s your life.

But then, at certain point, kids generally start doing most of those things on their own. So I had to get a new job.

Rather than a caregiver, I find myself being the giver of cares.

I know an adorable young man. I have great hope for his future. And yet, his most consistent contribution to any conversation these days flows in the vein of “I don’t care.” It turns out that this line has many synonyms: Cool (said in a completely flat, even tone). Mhmm (again, no vocal inflection). That’s so great. So on and so forth.

So it’s now my job to pass along to him those things that are worth caring about. And yes, kiddo, you are right. There are things that aren’t worth caring about. Many of them. But teaching how to filter out the things that are worth caring about and giving them the attention they deserve, that’s the parenting task for today. And it makes caregiving look super easy.