Children are a huge part of their parents' lives, friends and pets at once. Enjoy them while they're little.
Children are people. They deserve high expectations and full attention. They are smart: I know a seven year old girl who can solve some math problems on freshman college level. She spells terribly. They are creative -- no more and no less than creative adults. They lack experience but have a privilege of safety and lower standards.
I have three children. They were born far away from grandparents, and I had no benefit of older generation hands-on help. When my daughter was born, I started a journal about her progress. I kept the journal since then, adding her first words and her brother's birth weight. And my first son's first instances of verbal reasoning, and details of my second son's relatively eventful birth, later. I still keep it: children learn their nursery rhymes, letters, and multiplication. They move and settle in new places. Looking up my records, I see that children are no better in adjusting to new places and people than adults are. They travel and invent quiet games for rainy days. They play with each other, with their friends, on my nerves. I learn how to keep them safe, and how to teach them things. My experience is my only, but can make sense to others, as well.
See also: baby car seat, baby carrier, baby high chair, baby toys, baby travel bed, baby travel checklist, diaper, jogging stroller, newborn baby, outdoor play, southwest kids, travel with kids, small pets, due date, early pregnancy, family planning.