“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
-Robert Brault

Something I have to keep reminding myself since I became a mom is that with children, it is always the little things that matter most to them. At least it is for my four-year-old.

Unlike a lot of adults, she doesn’t need a grand gesture to impress her, such as a night out at Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse, a spa day or a trip to Hawaii.

Nope, she takes pride in the smallest of gestures and remembering that makes me try to remember the same for myself. It always amazes me how children can teach adults lessons, and being happy with the little things in life is a big one for me to remember.

Most recently, there was a particular set of McDonald’s Happy Meal toys that my daughter wanted to collect. She wanted all of them. So, for about three weeks, I ate McDonald’s for lunch in an effort to collect them for her. Besides the fact I am burned off hamburgers for a while, it was so much fun picking her up from school and showing her the new one I garnered that we could add to her collection. And every day, she would gratefully say, “Thank you Mommy! I didn’t have this one!”

Was this expensive? No, it was actually much cheaper eating there for lunch than my usual choice of eating establishments. And, it was such a small gesture that meant so much to her that I tried so hard to get her all of them. Further proving to me that she does always think of the small things, I bought her an expensive pair of shoes recently, and she was still way more impressed with these toys than her new shoes.

So, I am once again learning from this adorable and appreciative four-year-old, lessons that are so basic, yet somehow being a busy, stressed out adult makes me forget. Because of her, I am making more of an effort to enjoy the small things that makes life so enjoyable to live.