Matthew and Emily West Talk Parenthood: ‘It Just Flys By’
By Movieguide® Contributor
In a new episode of his podcast, Christian music artist Matthew West and his wife, Emily, discuss parenthood and some of their favorite memories.
The Wests share daughters Luella (Lulu) and Delaney.
“I can’t get over how fast this time has gone. The years are long, the days are short. It’s so true,” Emily began. “When they’re little and you’re in the thick of it and someone’s crying and needing a nap and isn’t feeling well, you know, it’s just like gosh, this has been the longest day. And now once they start school, it just flys by.”
Matthew then asked Emily what her favorite age has been to parent.
“I remember when both of our girls were seven, and I thought, ‘Seven is my favorite.’ I loved seven,” she explained. “They’re carefree, and they’re fun. They’re not worried about what anybody else thinks, and they’re silly, and they still want to be with us all the time. So, I remember thinking seven is my favorite ago for both of our girls.”
“But the time period for sure that I would go back to, and I’ve said this to you before, but when we were on the road and homeschooling,” she added.
The Wests explained that they decided to homeschool because anytime they pulled their girls out of school to travel for Matthew’s tours, the school “said they would call the truancy board after she had missed ten days of kindergarten.”
Emily worried they “were ruining our kids” by homeschooling. “I felt like I was going to ruin her. She’s never going to learn to read or write because it was just all new territory,” she said.
However, “It ended up being some of our fondest memories of raising our girls,” she added.
The couple is proud of how their daughters have made their faith their own. Movieguide® reported:
He’s incredibly thankful they have a solid faith and know how to turn to Christ in all situations.
“I don’t know that I’m ever prouder of my daughters than when I see their spiritual growth on display,” he said. “Like, they could sing in a play, they could, you know, get and A on a report card, all of that’s well and good, but seeing my daughter reading her Bible, my buttons will pop off my shirt.”
West recently released “18 Summers,” a song reflecting on how quickly life with kids goes.
“It’s like a prayer for family. Don’t stop praying for your family. Don’t stop praying for your kids,” Matthew told Woman’s World. “It’s not written in the form of a prayer. It’s more written in a form of just that aching feeling you get as time flies by before your eyes, and you wish you could get it back. It’s about making most of the time you get with them.”
The Wests’ oldest daughter, Lulu, just graduated from high school.
“‘For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under Heaven’ (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Thank you Jesus for each season of life with my beautiful girls,” West posted. “My new song ’18 Summers’ reflects on a lot of memories with my daughter Lulu, while holding excitement for the future.”
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