When I read this article from the Huffington Post this morning about siezing each moment, I couldn't help but laugh at the numerous times I have had a mother comment on how I should "enjoy every minute" of parenting. Most days I feel like parenting must be like child birth. The pain, the worry, and the wonder of child birth are
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Unsolicited advice
I've run into an abundance of unsolicited advice lately. Like at the store when a lady turned and commented on how..."he'd be so much cuter if you'd just give him his first haircut...then he wouldn't look so much like a little girl." Keep in mind...I have three girls...and she was wearing a barrette. Or when I was pregnant and ladies in the grocery line would comment..."any day now" when in reality I still had three months to go. I like to make small talk as I pump gas or check out my groceries, as I feel lucky to live in a relatively small town where the people are friendly, however, I don't recall that being an open invitation for others to solve my life problems.
When I read this article from the Huffington Post this morning about siezing each moment, I couldn't help but laugh at the numerous times I have had a mother comment on how I should "enjoy every minute" of parenting. Most days I feel like parenting must be like child birth. The pain, the worry, and the wonder of child birth areforgotten hard to remember once you experience the pure joy of seeing your child for the first time. However, the days working up to the moment that you hear her first cry can at times be tedious, painful, and worriesome. I wonder if these mothers look at my children and remember the sleepless nights, the tantrums, the juggling. I for one, do not enjoy the moments that my 5 year old rolls her eyes at me, or my 3 year old throws a tantrum, or my infants diaper blows out in the middle of the store all over my shirt and pants when I still have at least 5 more errands to run. I'm sure that many empty nesters must look back on parenting remembering fondly the great memories that seemed like just a blink of an eye ago. However, when your a mother in the thick of things questioning if you are raising the next president or the next felon, trying to enjoy each moment is not always at the forefront. I am working hard to try and remember that it is a necessity to have "chronos moments" in order to truly appreciate the "kairos moments" and that years from now, I will hopefully have some well-adjusted, independent, young contributors to society. In the meantime, is it really possible to enjoy every moment? Don't you need to have moments of struggle so that you can better appreciate the moments of ease?
When I read this article from the Huffington Post this morning about siezing each moment, I couldn't help but laugh at the numerous times I have had a mother comment on how I should "enjoy every minute" of parenting. Most days I feel like parenting must be like child birth. The pain, the worry, and the wonder of child birth are
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Thanks for sharing the link to the article. I am in the same place you are (except we're past the public blow-outs, thank goodness), and I'm a believer in the struggle. It helps sweeten the great moments. Do I always "like" my children? No. Sometimes, they make me insane. Do I always "love" my children? Yes, without question.
Raising children is a lot like marriage to me. Every single solitary moment is not bliss. If I'm picking up your socks for the 100 millionth time or I've asked you to brush your teeth twenty times, I'm not going to gaze upon you fondly and think to myself, "This is the good stuff." Later, when the teeth are brushed and the socks are properly put away, I will take a deep breath and gaze upon these magnificent creatures and thank God. It's definitely not happening the moment you mention that you "forgot to tell me" that you're working until 2am or while you're rolling around on the floor, kicking and screaming.
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