If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Image courtesy of graur razvan ionut FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Life has become hectic to say the least. As my children get older though I realize more and more we truly have got to cherish every moment with them because it will be over in the blink of an eye. Believe me, my oldest is about to start high school and we have been trying to plan out everything to set her up for the right college and career path. These next four years I know are going to be over in a flash and I don’t want to be looking back on this time and say what did I do with her? What memories did we really make together?
Now of course for the majority of her life I have been home with her. I have had the privilege of being there for every important event in her life. But it’s just not about the big events. It’s about the little moments too. Things are busy. Let me tell you with four kids I am always being pulled in so many different directions. A few years ago though I made it very clear to my oldest that if she ever needed to talk to me one on one, then she needed to let me know, but the deal was that I might not be able to be pulled away from what I’m doing at that very moment. So if she has any questions she is to write them down and we will set aside whatever time she needs to talk. I have now told my middle daughter this as well.
Finding Ways To Stop And Smell The Roses
I love the moments when they make me stop and slow down. Smell the roses if you will. I get reconnected with them on a different level. Not entirely as mom, but someone they can come to for anything. All of this did not just start a few years ago though. For 14 years I have been giving of myself to my children. They are and always have been my number one priority.
Is it a pain to try to do laundry with your toddler every single time? Yes, it is. That’s why sometimes I will have baskets of clean unfolded laundry laying around the house longer than I would like because I just can’t stand another second of my 2 year old “helping” me fold. For the record her idea of helping me is telling me whose item of clothing something is a million times until I acknowledge that she is right about who the clothing belongs to. It’s cute the first couple of times, but by the 3rd folded item I am looking for other jobs for her to do.
“Oh hey baby girl, go take that basket and get the clothes off the floor in the bathroom.” Or “Here go put this dryer sheet in the garbage, that’s what mommy needs you to do right now.” We do have to get creative in our ways of allowing them to help us, but it should never come at the cost of stopping to smell the roses.
Life’s Too Short
Looking at my teenager and my toddler reminds me every day of how fast this all goes. I truly wish I had the knowledge then (when my oldest was a toddler) that I have now. I heard it all the time. Don’t be so anxious for them to grow up. And I was always oh yeah yeah yeah I know, but no I didn’t know. I didn’t truly know how fast it all goes. I had no idea how fast it really does go. I am about to be the mother of a high school student and a middle school student. Believe you me 11 years ago when my middle daughter was born I couldn’t have imagined this moment in time. Now all I do is think about the fleeting time we do have.
In 4 years my oldest is off to college in the same 4 years I’ll have 2 in elementary school all day and one in high school. Then 2 years later it will be another one going onto college with one likely about to graduate college, another in middle school, and one in elementary school. In a decade I’ll have another high school and middle school student. It’s just all happening so fast so I really love my reminders to stop and smell the roses.
When my son wants to help cook I try to let him, even if that means he is just sitting on a chair watching. No, they don’t have to physically help me prepare every meal, just being there watching me do what I do is enough. My 2 year old gets to help me with laundry even if that means she’s in charge of telling me whose clothes are whose. My older girls still get to write down their questions for me to discuss later, maybe after the little ones go to bed or my husband gets home from work. We need this time. We need the memories and the talks. Because it’s just going to be gone before we know it. I hope I never get so busy that I stop stopping to smell the roses.
Will you be stopping to smell the roses with your kids this week?