My daughter had a moment I never had as a child...

...and I couldn't be happier.My daughter, 4.5 years-old, attends a pre-Kindergarten academic prep pre-school during the week. Tonight, she had a little Spring program where the kids in all the classes perform little kid songs while dressed in rain boots and holding umbrellas. It was about 10 minutes long altogether. I left work early, as did my wife, and we were both there in the third row with phones out. But let me back up a bit...I grew up poor and in an amalgamated family of cousins, my mentally-ill uncle and my grandmother. My father was the patriarch and my mother had left before I could even remember. My father was a loving person but his labor job was to provide for everyone. Sometimes we didn't even have food on the table for dinner, and I definitely had my share of embarrassing moments where I had ill-fitting clothes or got made fun of at school for being "dirty". My father worked tirelessly and my grandmother wasn't mobile so all of the little school programs and plays that are put on never had one of my family members in attendance. I remember wishing during a certain Christmas play that I was in that I'd see someone in my family there. When I got out on the stage and searched the crowd, there was no one. I even had to ask for a ride home from a friend's parent. My wife grew up even poorer in the rural South without running water and electricity at times. We are both the first in our families to get a college education, become homeowners and have modestly successful careers.So last night, as I sat in the third row with my wife and saw my daughter file on to the stage, a sense of pride swelled within me. I watched as she searched the crowd and saw her face light up when she recognized my wife and me. Throughout the short program she would sing and look at us, exaggerating the motions to the songs with a big smile on her face.I'm not the crying type and never have been, but seeing her there with her face aglow choked me up and I had to do everything I could from letting it all out. I sat there stupidly with my phone recording looking like a helicopter parent.And I don't regret a single moment. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2HXBVIf