Lynda Loveland: Heard it before

Sleep when they sleep. Start saving for college early. Let them cry it out.

It's parenting advice we hear over and over. Solicited or unsolicited. There's one piece of advice I hear more than any other. I never really listened to it. It went in one ear and out the other. But it came back to me the other day.

My youngest daughter turns seven in a month. She'll be out of the house in 11 years. They'll all be gone in 11 years, ONLY 11 years! Sure it sounds like a long time but you know how quickly the last ten years went. They absolutely blew by!

That's when I remembered that piece of advice I got more than any other. The piece of advice that sounded like total crap when I was up to my unkempt eyebrows dealing with three kids ages four and younger.

"Enjoy them while they're young."

Sound familiar? I can't even count the number of parents with adult children who told me that. They were so right.

You get one shot at it. There are no do-overs if you screw it up. It's time to slow down, open my eyes and smell the soccer sweat. I don't want to miss it. No regrets. No regrets.