The Juggling Act

To say Motherhood is a juggling act is an understatement.  As I look at my calendar for next week I think...."Wow, why did I schedule so many things in one week??"  We've got doctors appts, dentist appts, parent/teacher conferences, visits to grandparents, early outs from school, young mothers group etc.  I guess I won't be watching The Talk next week and I'll have to try extra hard to squeeze in work-outs because those typically would be the first to go.

The thing is with children you have more crazy weeks than not.  We all try really hard to plan our days, weeks and months and stick to a schedule but at times its just best to throw the schedule out the window and start all over.  Things happen unexpectedly, people get sick or forget to take something to school or God forbid Mom forgets to write something on the calendar.  What we need to remember is our children are only young for short period of time.  I tell myself all the time to get through the more difficult times..."The kids are only young for a short period of time, there will be a day where they will no longer live with me, I need to cherish these times because they are gone all too quick."

I realize in the moment it is tough to feel this way, however, sometimes it's easier just let go of a little bit of the control, to let go of the fact that the house will NOT always be clean, or the laundry WON'T always get folded.  Screw the dusting and play with the kids, go outside, take them to the park, read stories, create stories, build forts, have fun, do crafts and bake.  When your children grow up what do you want them to remember about their childhoods?  That mom cleaned all the time, that mom was cranky, that mom cried a lot?  Or do you want them to remember that mom used to play games with us, she used to take us for ice cream and she used to let us climb trees and play in the mud.

We are all very different people with very different parenting styles but I don't think any of us want to watch our children leave the house one by one and wish that we would've spent more time with them while they were home.  All we can do is the best we can, we don't need to be supermom, there isn't an Oscar for Best Mom in a Leading Role in Life.  Cut yourself some slack and you don't need to make a big production, the best thing about children is that they are thrilled with the simple things in life, a few moments of quality time here and there is all they want.  I recently asked my children this quesion, "If you only had three wishes and you could wish for anything in the world what would you wish for?"  My eleven year old said she'd wish for a cell phone, $10,000 and a puppy.  Oh for life to be that simple again!

"Dream as if you'll live forever.  Live as if you'll die today."  ~James Dean