As parents our goal is to raise our children to be Christ-like. The Bible tells us in Psalms 123:3-5:

 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Through out our children's lives we release our "arrows" on the world from the time we cut the cord at birth until they finally move away on their own. During that time we work at directing our "arrows" to fly straight and to finally hit the bull's eye of becoming Christ-like.

In this new version of that well known poem "Footprints" let's read it as if it were our children's lives and how our children did become more Christ-like: 

Imagine you and the Lord Jesus are walking down the road together.  For much of the way, the Lord's footprints go along steadily, consistently, rarely varying the pace.

But your footprints are a disorganized stream of zigzags, starts, stops, turnarounds, circles, departures, and returns.
 
For much of the way, it seems to go like this, but gradually your footprints come more in line with the Lord's, soon paralleling His consistently.
 
You and Jesus are walking as true friends!
 
This seems perfect, but then an interesting thing happens: Your footprints that once etched the sand next to Jesus' are now walking precisely in His steps.
Inside His larger footprints are your smaller ones, you and Jesus are becoming one.
This goes on for many miles, but gradually you notice another change.  The footprints inside the large footprints seem to grow larger.

Eventually they disappear altogether. There is only one set of footprints. They have become one.
 
This goes on for a long time, but suddenly the second set of footprints is back. This time it seems even worse!  Zigzags all over the place.   Stops.  Starts.  Gashes in the sand.   A variable mess of prints.
 
You are amazed and shocked. Your dream ends.  Now you pray:
 
"Lord, I understand the first scene, with zigzags and fits.  I was a new Christian; I was just learning.  But You walked on through the storm and helped me learn to walk with You." 

"That is correct."

"And when the smaller footprints were inside of Yours, I was actually learning to walk in Your steps, following You very closely."
 
"Very good.. You have understood everything so far."
 
"When the smaller footprints grew and filled in Yours, I suppose that I was becoming like You in every way."

"Precisely."
 
"So, Lord, was there a regression or something? The footprints separated, and this time it was worse than at first."
 
There is a pause as the Lord answers, with a smile in His voice.

"You didn't know?  It was then that we danced!"
 
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance.