I had the privilege of speaking to a wonderful MOPS group (Moms of Preschoolers) today. There were so many little babies in that room…absolute heaven. As I spoke, I kept gazing out at all those soft little heads snuggled up to their mamas.
Wowza.
Where did my little babies go?
The twins will be six in a few months and I can say unequivocally that their babyhoods and toddlerhoods flashed by faster than the other kids. We are so much busier than we were when the older kids were little. The rhythm of our days and weeks just churns by and drags everyone in its wake.
It feels so odd to be shifting to the senior side of the lunch table when it comes to conversing with moms. Yes, I’ve been parenting over 22 years now, but I still see myself as someone with babies at home.
Babies who are almost six. And who are doing reading lessons. And who are getting taller and heavier by the day and whom I still lug around on my hip.
Denial much?
Back to the senior side of the table…
It seems to me there is more parenting advice out there than ever before. Books, magazines, periodicals, workshops, blogs, there is all manner of strategy and approach and philosophy. Some of it is great, some of it isn’t, some of it works, some of it doesn’t. But at the end of the day…
Our mama’s hearts…
Whether we have been parenting for a decade or a couple of weeks…
Long to see our kids go further, farther, faster.
Better.
And we’re all sometimes a little overwhelmed as to how to make that happen. And how to be fully involved. And how to get ourselves out of the way.
Kids, moms, parenting. Always different challenges, always different issues, always different personalities and approaches and styles.
And…
Always the same. We try, we succeed, we fail, we have bad days, we have stellar ones. That’s what I hear when I interact with moms today. Twenty years after I started my parenting journey, the questions and worries are the same.
Will I be enough for my child? Will I do this thing right? Will they be happy? Will I honor who they are and guide them into their destiny?
Will I? Can I?
Those are all the right questions.
Because search and trial and error and progress are the tools of an effective mom.
Ask.
Receive.