Country music star Tim McGraw garnered a huge hit when he told everyone to “live like you are dying.” Although I will spare everyone the singing, maybe we should instead “live like you were a child.”

No offense to Tim but I think that might offer more personal rewards without the pending finality.

One of the greatest joys I get from being a relatively new parent is watching the wonder and excitement my children get from some of the mundane things I have long since taken for granted.

This is especially true with my 3-year-old and just becoming a new experience for the 10-month-old.

Even something as routine as checking the mail becomes an exciting event. What I call junk mail my daughter sees as interesting presents.

The dreaded grocery shopping trip to Pick n’ Save or Walmart is transformed into an amazing adventure with endless possibilities. Every aisle serves as a gateway to something new and interesting.

While most adults look at walking around the block or through the neighborhood as a necessary step to get the exercise needed to stay healthy as we age, this is a spectacular, wonder-filled journey punctuated by exclamations of joy and endless questions for a child.

For many adults, myself included, deciding what to cook for dinner can be an exhausting and frustrating decision that caps a long day of choices. For children, the kitchen offers a smorgasbord of tastes and smells that open the door to new worlds.

The pride and joy in my daughter’s eyes when she presented me with her specialty of “Bacon Soup” — which contained neither bacon nor any other ingredients I would want in a soup — is something I’ll always remember, even if Lucky Charms and saltine crackers didn’t sound appealing as key components.

This sense of wonder and joy is something we would all be well served to remember. Too often it seems as if life steals some of that from us as we become adults.

It is the classic “Peter Pan” syndrome where too many of us lose our imagination and child-like joy as we grow older.

Things like mortgages, taxes, jobs, bills and all those other responsibilities seem to pile up and cause some adults to become somewhat jaded.

I hope that my children can keep that innocence as long as possible. And, maybe, just maybe it can rub off on me too.

Michael Caldwell is publisher of The Tribune. To reach him, call (740) 532-1445 ext. 24 or by e-mail at mike.caldwell@irontontribune.com.