Parents only get eighteen years with their children. The goal of parenting is to take a child under your wing, raise them up, and then let them fly. Though parenting has all sorts of stressors and challenges, this might be the hardest part of all. While letting go is never easy, the goal of the parent is to raise happy, healthy, productive adults.

When I think about the number 18, it seems very big. Thousands of days, all strung together, most of which are full of tasks and objectives. Not only do the bigger lessons need to be taught, and a lifetime of wisdom imparted, but rooms must be cleaned, stomachs fed, and activities completed. Each day, a single step, a few bricks mortared into place to be the foundation on which their life is built. Still, as the sands slip grain by grain in the timepiece, it’s easy to feel it slipping away.

No two eras of parenting are the same, and none are easy. The infant requires constant attention and guarding, while the teen needs help in different, more complex ways. Each era is a blessing unto itself, and a challenge anew.

Regardless of the time or the season though, it is still the work of building. It takes more than one mistake, or one faulty brick, to collapse a building. It’s the grace of physics and of discipline. A single weak brick in a facade is a problem, but is also supported by the strong bricks all around it. Parenting is not a zero sum scenario, but it does require focus applied over time.

On the late evenings, when the day has been long and many things are left undone, though, it’s easy to keep perspective. And when your son asks if you can build LEGOs together, you leave the kitchen a mess, you head into the basement, and you build.