I was inspired by this post:http://www.fromdatestodiapers.com/50-rules-for-dads-of-daughters
to write something from my own experiences.

While that post is geared toward cherishing every precious moment with your daughter, I have to write about guarding every single moment with any child.

I've lost two children. One to cancer, one to SIDS.

This isn't meant to be a negative or sad post, though it will seem that way. It's meant to be positive, to urge you to make every second a treasure.

Which brings me to the main point of this post. Guard every moment. They are all precious. You never know when that child will be taken from you. Just as you don't know your own last second of life, you also don't know your child's last second of life. So guard those seconds.

When they wake up and you look into their eyes and smile, you never know if that will be the last time you'll see that life looking back at you and smiling with joy. When they are eating, you never know if this is the last bite you'll ever see them take. When you take their hand to cross the road or walk through the store, or even just walk through nature, you never know if that'll be the last time their hands are alive in yours. When you read them a story for bed, you never know if that's the last time they will ever sit in your lap. When you put them to bed, you never know if that's the last time you'll ever be able to caress their cheek or kiss them on their forehead or cheek. When you hug them...hug them tight. You never know if that's the last time you'll be able to hug that precious child.

You never know if the last time you told them that you love them will be the last time you'll ever be able to say that to them. So don't wait. Don't tell them once a week or once a month. Tell them every day. Every chance you get every day, even.

Don't waste the opportunities you have to touch your children, to talk to your children, to look into your children's eyes, to watch the wonder your child shows as they learn something new. Don't squander the gift you've been given with that child.

Guard those seconds. You never know when they will stop ticking away. And when that happens...the regret you have will be regretting to treasure each and every single one. You never know how many seconds you have left with that child that loves you more than life itself.