My kids sometimes feel too needy. Oftentimes I never get the desired downtime.
My wife got mad at me one day and said "You need to listen to Harry Chapin's Cat's in the Cradle. Then come talk with me." It's a shock to listen to that song, because it's true. It would be easy to end up like that and no one want it.
Each of those ages are incredible and filled with irreplaceable experiences. It's easy to get jaded when you move through them so slowly.
"You know, I feel like having a me day. I'll hand this one off to 60-year-old me."
My 60-year-old self magically time travels in and has a blast with the kids he hasn't seen as children in decades. Meanwhile I get to relax. Then, twenty years from now, when the nest is cold and empty, the memories of my kids' childhood is fading, and I long to feel their little arms wrapped around me, I get zipped back in time to live a whole day of it afresh.
They say youth is wasted on the young. Sometimes it feels like parenting is wasted on young parents too.
It's a very challenging balancing act especially in today's America which expects parents to spend tons of time with their kids.