Moms can:
appreciate spending time with their kids and still want a break.
be proud of their role as “mom” and still pursue their individual goals.
love what they do and still get exhausted doing it every single day.
be thankful they are parents and still not enjoy every moment.
Sometimes you just gotta wear the tutu.
We often find ourselves on the outside looking in when it comes to our kids activities. We watch them play. We cheer them on. We capture the memories in photographs. But it isn’t always that we dive in with our children.
Maybe it’s because we are embarrassed or afraid to look silly in front of other adults. Maybe we are busy watching little siblings or multi-tasking a zillion different things. Maybe we just don’t get the opportunity.
If a mom has an amazing weekend but didn’t take any pictures, did it even happen?
Two days of swimming nonstop for hours on end.
Two days of spending time with friends I haven’t seen in so long.
Two days of watching my kids grow confidence and skill in the water.
Two days of putting on the dreaded swimsuit.
We do a lot of things for our children.
We drive them to sports and activities.
We sign them up for dance classes and music lessons.
We coordinate play dates with their friends.
We practice sight words and math problems, and make science fair displays with them.
We plan walks and bike rides and arts and crafts projects.
But sometimes, at the end of a long day, the best thing we can do is to be the soft place for them to fall.
“Don’t catch me, Mommy!” my three-year-old exclaimed as I reached for him.
He was busy bounding up and down the bleacher steps at his Daddy’s baseball game last night. Happy and confident, he was taking such pleasure in the loud “boom” the metal planks made with each exaggerated step that he took. He was having a most wonderful time.
I, on the other hand, was watching with bated breath. My insides clenched with anxiety with each move he made, as I just waited for him to fall. My mommy instincts were in full effect, and I swooped in to rescue him. I reached out for his hand. Continue reading