936 – Every Week Counts-How will you use them?

Nine hundred and thirty-six weeks! If you count that’s the number of weeks from birth to their 18th birthday; this is the time we are given to raise our children. At first, this seems like a long time, I was 23 when I had my first child so 18 years was the majority of my life. But recently as I realized how far along I am with my oldest that time doesn’t seem like enough. So far 382 weeks have passed since A was born. That’s 41% of that time is gone.

I try to be intentional as a parent but I don’t think I have yet invested 41% of the time or energy into raising A that I should. There are so many more things I have wanted to do with her as she grows. It’s been 3 years I have been saying “This summer we will go camping together at Ricketts Glen State Park.

Have you ever stopped to consider how far along you are in raising your child? It’s an eye opener when you stop and put numbers to the process; when you count the weeks. Actually, to make this easy for you I created a little tool so you can estimate how much time is left to raise your child.

Counting Every Week – Slider

0 YO	1 YO	2 YO	3 YO	4 YO	5 YO	1 Gr	2 Gr	3 Gr	4 Gr	5 Gr	6 Gr	7 Gr	8 Gr	9 Gr	10 Gr	11 Gr	12 Gr

Pausing to think about this is crazy right?
Before their 5th birthday, 1/4 of your time is gone. In third grade, your child is halfway raised. Then 8th grade you only have less than 1/4 of your time remaining to raise them.

As parents, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking “We will get to that soon”. I wonder how things would change if we numbered every week? If parents investing early and often how would the teenage years go? I wonder what would happen with the next generation if parents counted the weeks.

My challenge to you is that every week you plan something unique that will help develop your children into the adults we know they can be! Will you count the weeks?

What unique will you do this week? Comment below.