Today is my daughter's 10th birthday (on the Gregorian calendar). This last Shabbat she couldn't go to shul because she had injured her foot at camp and was told to rest it for a few days. Since she missed shul, I asked her to daven mincha with me on Shabbat afternoon. We have davened and learned together before, but something felt different. She said every word of ashrei and kidusha d'sidra out loud with me. We leined the first aliyah of Re'eh together out of a tikkun. We stood side by side davening the amidah (she even took longer than I did and waiting for her was so sweet!) and then said tzidkat'kha and aleinu out loud together. 

Despite the fact that I am a Torah educator, I do not think of myself as going a good job in educating my children. My spouse is much better. I try, and my kids will often sit with me when I daven or learn, sometimes even engaging for a short time. But this mincha with my daughter felt different. I felt like we were serving Hashem together. I was still the educator, but there was a sense that one day we can be peers in the endeavor of serving Hashem. 

I remembered that at the end of the Dor Revi'i's introduction (Rav Moshe Shmuel Glasner) he has a very sweet recalling of his relationship with his father. When I looked back at the passage, I noticedhat his description is from the time Moshe Shmuel was ten years old, just like my daughter. 

His way was to rouse me from the sleep of children several hours before morning. He would bring to my bed water to wash and hot coffee. Afterwards we sat and learned together, every matter, with complete investigation, even deep matters and those far off from the mental faculties of children, until I was able to debate with Rabbis and students who passed through our city...

היה דרכו לעוררני משינת הילדים כמה שעות קודם עלות השחר והביא לי למטתי מים לרחצה וקאפפע חם, וישבנו אח"כ ללמד יחד, כל דבר בעיון גמור אפילו ענינים העמוקים והרחוקים מדעת ילדים, עד שיכלתי לפלפל עם הרבנים ות"ח שעברו דרך עירנו

I am particularly struck by his term that his father would rouse him from the sleep of children, "משנת ילדים". I think there is a double meaning here. His father was doing more than waking him early in the morning at a time many children are still sleeping; his father was also waking him from childhood and guiding him into adulthood. While my 10 year old is most definitely still a child, I see the beginnings of being a Jewish adult and I felt this more strongly when we were davening together on Shabbat. Here is praying that the Holy Blessed One helps me in guiding her on this journey from childhood to Jewish adulthood.