I am…A Mother
I had my first baby before most people would consider an appropriate time…before I really even planned on having kids all together really. I learned everything on the fly because I had never really been around babies growing up.
I missed most of the first year of her life trying to make a life for myself and her. It was difficult, especially with all that happened during that year I was away.
When I fell in love and got married, we decided to have another baby pretty quickly after that. I enjoyed, when they were little, teaching them everything, watching them learn and pick things up and the curiosity and innocence and creativity. It is truly an amazing thing watching a baby grow into a toddler into a kid. It is such a wonder how much they learn in those years from just laying there making noises to walking, talking, writing, understanding, communicating.
I won’t lie, now that they are older, sometimes I wish they did not have the communication thing down like they do. They don’t always have the nicest things to say! But they are good kids and they are the most loving, understanding people I have ever met. They do not judge, they do not criticize, they will do anything for a friend and will give a million second chances when that friend treats them poorly. They do not see black/white, fat/skinny, tall/short, pretty/ugly, smart/not so smart. They don’t care what anyone is wearing or how they wear their hair. People are people to them. They are either nice or they will stay away from them. They’ll be there for a friend no matter what.
I am in awe of them with that fact. There just are not many people like that and being around kids as much as I am, I see the cliques and the judgements and the ‘you’re not good enough for mes’ so I know the world isn’t really that much different from when I was a kid.
Obviously, I know neither of my kids are perfect. Every parent always tells me how good they were when they were with someone else. They always say please and thank you, yes sir and no sir to other people. At home, it is a different story. Nothing is ever their fault, they didn’t do it, nothing gets picked up without being told eight million times, they back talk, sneak around to get what they want. But, they get good grades, they are good friends, they are polite to other adults, their teachers have always raved about them. I don’t know now if it is a give/take thing that I should accept or if I need to start pushing better behavior at home now as well.
But they are good kids. I try to teach them right from wrong. I try to teach them good habits. I try to be the mother they need. I try not to let history repeat itself. It is funny how being a mother is as much about learning as it is about teaching. When something is going on that I do not know how to handle, I’ll talk to people that may have the same issues, I’ll look online, I’ll do research and I’ll do my best to figure it out so I know how to handle it.
I am a mother and I am learning still. I have a new teenager – turned thirteen in March. My other one just turned eleven but I think she thinks she is older than she is. I suppose that might be youngest syndrome but she does her best to keep up. My husband said the other day that he thought it got easier as they got older. He got laughed at! They are definitely a handful. They may not need to be constantly watched anymore, but they still need to be constantly ‘looked after’ which is harder when there is more they can be getting into.
All I hope for, as a mother, is that they are happy, functioning individuals when they grow up and leave the house and are out on their own. If they can take care of themselves and are happy, then I will feel I have done my job as a mother. I try to give them everything I can, I try to give them the things I did not have, I try to be there for them without being pushy. It is hard to find those lines sometimes.
But I am a mother and I will be there for my kids through thick and thin, all the ups and downs and ins and outs, no matter what happens. And I hope that they will be better than I could ever dream to be when they are on their own.
I had my first baby before most people would consider an appropriate time…before I really even planned on having kids all together really. I learned everything on the fly because I had never really been around babies growing up.
I missed most of the first year of her life trying to make a life for myself and her. It was difficult, especially with all that happened during that year I was away.
When I fell in love and got married, we decided to have another baby pretty quickly after that. I enjoyed, when they were little, teaching them everything, watching them learn and pick things up and the curiosity and innocence and creativity. It is truly an amazing thing watching a baby grow into a toddler into a kid. It is such a wonder how much they learn in those years from just laying there making noises to walking, talking, writing, understanding, communicating.
I won’t lie, now that they are older, sometimes I wish they did not have the communication thing down like they do. They don’t always have the nicest things to say! But they are good kids and they are the most loving, understanding people I have ever met. They do not judge, they do not criticize, they will do anything for a friend and will give a million second chances when that friend treats them poorly. They do not see black/white, fat/skinny, tall/short, pretty/ugly, smart/not so smart. They don’t care what anyone is wearing or how they wear their hair. People are people to them. They are either nice or they will stay away from them. They’ll be there for a friend no matter what.
I am in awe of them with that fact. There just are not many people like that and being around kids as much as I am, I see the cliques and the judgements and the ‘you’re not good enough for mes’ so I know the world isn’t really that much different from when I was a kid.
Obviously, I know neither of my kids are perfect. Every parent always tells me how good they were when they were with someone else. They always say please and thank you, yes sir and no sir to other people. At home, it is a different story. Nothing is ever their fault, they didn’t do it, nothing gets picked up without being told eight million times, they back talk, sneak around to get what they want. But, they get good grades, they are good friends, they are polite to other adults, their teachers have always raved about them. I don’t know now if it is a give/take thing that I should accept or if I need to start pushing better behavior at home now as well.
But they are good kids. I try to teach them right from wrong. I try to teach them good habits. I try to be the mother they need. I try not to let history repeat itself. It is funny how being a mother is as much about learning as it is about teaching. When something is going on that I do not know how to handle, I’ll talk to people that may have the same issues, I’ll look online, I’ll do research and I’ll do my best to figure it out so I know how to handle it.
I am a mother and I am learning still. I have a new teenager – turned thirteen in March. My other one just turned eleven but I think she thinks she is older than she is. I suppose that might be youngest syndrome but she does her best to keep up. My husband said the other day that he thought it got easier as they got older. He got laughed at! They are definitely a handful. They may not need to be constantly watched anymore, but they still need to be constantly ‘looked after’ which is harder when there is more they can be getting into.
All I hope for, as a mother, is that they are happy, functioning individuals when they grow up and leave the house and are out on their own. If they can take care of themselves and are happy, then I will feel I have done my job as a mother. I try to give them everything I can, I try to give them the things I did not have, I try to be there for them without being pushy. It is hard to find those lines sometimes.
But I am a mother and I will be there for my kids through thick and thin, all the ups and downs and ins and outs, no matter what happens. And I hope that they will be better than I could ever dream to be when they are on their own.