Over the last nearly 13 years that I have been a mom, how many times have I said “I can do that tomorrow”?  Starting a new schedule, teaching a new manner, instilling a new value? 

It doesn’t need to be a major event in our lives as a parent to kick start our perspective, but all too often that is what it takes.  The situation over the weekend with Sir Lion definitely triggered some thinking and a big-time attitude check!  Many “Mommy Reality Checks” happened for me in a very real and immediate way, but today I want to tackle the one that came to mind first.  How much do I take my kids and my life as their mom for granted?

Today moms are bombarded by ideas that fall outside of the scope of just being a mom.  Let me explain, according to our society, not only are we expected to care for our children flawlessly as a mom, but we are also supposed to be able to maintain a variety of close friendships (leaving our families on a regular basis to go out with them), maintain a perfect home, be a great cook and for many women even work outside the home in the process.  Under that pressure, it is very easy to get to the point of getting overwhelmed – seeing many of our daily tasks and responsibilibies as a mom as a mundane chore that we’d really rather not do instead of seeing them as a privilege. 

For me, this was a wake up call.  Like so many other parents, it took an event like this (thankfully fairly minor in my case) to help me see a few things more clearly!  I know that I had been struggling with the issues and current needs of Lion a little more than usual lately.  He’s a great little boy, don’t get me wrong, but he is very strong willed, so when he enters a stage that has a naughty tendency that needs to be tweaked, it can be quite consuming.  

As the mom of many it is not all that unusual for me to be in a constant state of attitude or behavior “tweaking” with one child or another, but I have been fairly fortunate so far not to have too many children requiring major adjustments at the same time.  Sure, there will be one really needy one and one or two others that just need some very minor reminder tweaking.  This time though, he wasn’t alone in the more major behavioral issues (remember I have one very soon entering the world of teens).  So my attitude was going downhill fast. 

I became the one that needed possibly the biggest attitude adjustment of all though.  Blame it on summer break, blame it on the yucky cold I’ve been fighting, blame it on whatever you want, but the fact remains that the responsibility for my actions lays entirely on my shoulders and I need to answer for my behavior.  Not so pretty when you’re the mom though is it? 

So, that’s where I am, back to Mommy Reality 101 – Part A, do not take even one day with your children for granted.  Starting each day with a fresh new attitude isn’t easy for us, but it is important.  The journey to that new beginning will look different for each mom, for me it would be great if I could have a little quiet time to myself in the morning.  A huge and nearly impossible feat, but I’d love to find a way.   Hope you’re having a fresh new day with your kiddos, seeing them through the eyes of their Creator and seeing your position as the ultra important one that it is – your gift from God.

Oh, how sweet the light of day, And how wonderful to live in the sunshine! Even if you live a long time, don’t take a single day for granted. Take delight in each light-filled hour, Remembering that there will also be many dark days (Ecclesiastes 11:7 The Message)

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This entry was written by Shera on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 9:21 am and is filed under Life As A Mom, Mommy Reality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.