Make today the day you get to know your kid.

The other evening my youngest wasn’t feeling well and asked me to snuggle her until she was asleep. I agreed without hesitation, because—again, I have a senior this year and those years went by way too fast!

She asked relentlessly if I would stay until she was asleep, and how I would know she was actually asleep. I answered, “Because I know you.”

And then I laid there thinking, that’s true of both my girls. I know them. I know them deeply.

I remember when I was living in New York after college, my mom came to visit and noticed a CD I had by a rapper. She looked at it with disgust and asked why I had it. When I said a friend there had given it to me, her response was, “Well, obviously they don’t know you very well.”

I rolled my eyes and ignored the comment.

The reality was, she didn’t know me at all and had not my whole life. I did—and do—still like my old-school rap music!

But, as parents, we have a Heavenly Father who has shown us what good parenting looks like. And at the base of that is to intentionally know our kids.

Our Father knows us. There is nothing we can hide from Him. Nothing. And He longs for a relationship where we understand that and trust Him with everything.

We know their personality. We know how they think, what they struggle with, and how they are likely to respond when life comes at them. We know whether we will be listening to rap music together or something else. We know them. And they trust us with everything.

We can’t change that once they leave our homes. Growing that relationship will never be as easy as it is when you start from when they are born. But you can begin today too.

Be interested in your kid. Be intentional with your time with them. Know what they like and don’t like. Be their cheerleader and confidant through it all.

Trust me in saying the time goes too fast to wait until you see them walk out that door to start building what will shape your family’s get-togethers for years to come.

Start today on one of the most important relationships in your life, and really get to know your kid.