It has been very hectic here at our house and it looks like May will be very busy with SAT’s, prom, a graduation, my daughters role in the spring musical – Grease, high school finals, college finals, my youngest taking his driving exam, and our second child preparing for college. It’s just go go go, with excitement, anticipation, and just a “wee bit” of stress.
It seems as if it were just yesterday that I was changing diapers and going to pre-school recitals. I remember my husband teaching our son to ride a bike, and now I’m teaching him to drive a car. I remember teaching them to read, and now I can’t even help them with math, lol. I can’t believe how far we’ve come in these short years; I can’t believe how far I’ve come — as a mom and a person. I wonder sometimes if parenting would have been less stressful if I had “found my Zen” way back then. Would I have done things differently? Worried less? Thrown away the parenting books — or not purchased any at all? I might have had less “mini-breakdowns” when my girls were going through their tween years and constantly bickering with each other and me.
Well, I guess who knows, right? I am very happy with the way my kids turned out, strong individually, able to stand on their own, smart, happy, compassionate, loving, and independent. So I guess I did something right! I’ve always said that we never stop learning, and that when we raise our kids — we are also raising ourselves. I’m amazed at the things I’ve learned over the last 2 decades — about raising kids and about myself.
Now that my kids are grown, the best advice I could offer to parents is: The most