Day 25- Motherhood

E today had her first breakdown when I dropped off for her weekly morning at preschool. She was in tears when I picked her up, too. Sweet moments for a mom. The rush of the warm fuzzy " my baby loves me!" is a great pick me up no matter the day.

Being a mom is great. And easy. One of the most fluid things I've ever done. It's natural and fun and like breathing, something I don't think too hard about. Maybe it's the hours put in the classroom that makes me appreciate the wonderfulness and easiness of motherhood. No planning, no behavior management nightmares (it's my child! i'm going to discipline her the way I want that will get results!) no twenty voices all wanting to be heard. There's just one small voice demanding my attention and she gets it whenever she needs it.

A stressed mom is an unhappy mom and a mean mom. So I try not to be stressed too much (ie not working, so no reasons to be stressed). Not type A, so i don't mind messes, but think they are rather good teaching points and great for brain development opportunities. Like to establish patterns and rhythms in my own day, so I also do that for the baby. A baby on a routine is a happy camper. If you can't tell, my philosophy is a chill mom is a mom who will make the most of the moments, be prepared for catastrophes, and share love and happiness with her child which is the most important thing a young child can get. There is tons of literature on that and the NC Learning foundations basically say the same thing, but add problem solving and physical exploration as a key component of healthy growth. We do those things, too, the big outdoor lovers that we are.

And trust me, I've worked with enough kids who grew up with lives that were the opposite. Try teaching them. It's 100 times harder, very worth the effort, but very very hard. Kids who grow up in chaos, with lots of stress and negativity going on around them, while tough little cookies, have a hard shell around them to protect themselves. That can be a good thing, but it is not necessarily a sign of a health  That child has a lot of issues it needs to work through; fears, anxieties, what have you, before they can find peace and actualization and joy. In other words, they need a lot of Jesus to take their hurt and frustrations. Thank goodness, Jesus is there, because those kids need a whole whole whole lot of love, just like we all do. The love of the father is what makes us work and tick rightly. Without him, life is ugly, cold, bare, and unloving. Jesus' love for us is what keeps us warm and full and upbeat. And I think a lot of good things happen when you are upbeat. Grace happens. Grace happens more and more the more you are warm and full and upbeat. And Grace is the magic that turns the ugly things of this world beautiful.
Yes, I do think that motherhood is one continual act of grace. A grace- full has power and authority, kindness and sincerity, truth and love and justice, all the things a child needs to be trained in the way he or she needs to go, to live a right life. Because it can be that through the grace of a mother, a child meets the grace of an eternal savior, father, and lord.