Just 5 minutes please!

Do you ever feel inadequate as a parent? Or maybe for some it’s the question of do you ever feel adequate as a parent?

I know there are lots of times that I feel inadequate. Take the other day, I had been home with my son for 3 days and he would not let me even walk across the room without getting up and following me all along saying Mom about a hundred times ,and that’s not exaggerating.

I was at my wits end. Even walking down to the laundry room was a fight. He followed me all the way down or stood on the top of the stairs and yelled “Mom are you down there? “. He was whiny, wouldn’t listen, deliberately ignoring what I told him not to do, and smiled as he did those things.

So I know I’m not the only one who has experienced this. I’m sure there are many, many moms out there that are saying, “Yup that’s my life everyday.” How do we keep going and not let this drive us crazy? How do we change our mindset to help us actually see the joy in this routine? How do we give ourselves grace and a break when it comes to the kids?

Life

Life as a mom is different for each different Mama. You could be a stay at home mom, homeschooler, work part time(that’s me), or work full time. Whether your kids are home with you full time, part time, or just at night when you get home from work, you know that they can be really needy when they are young. It’s only natural for them to want to be with us Mamas. Most the time we are their favorite people, and they feel most comfortable with us.

So when kids feel comfortable they are most themselves and vulnerable, this is why they are not as behaved and they want all your attention.

So when we want to get things done such as laundry, dishes, or just even writing a blog, they want to be right next to you. I know this can be really hard at times. Writing this now I have both my kids next to me on the couch, with my son on my legs and my daughter right up to my side. Things take extra long when they are on top of me, but I would not have it any other way. For they will only want to be with me this much for such a short time.

Pick the fight

When you are trying to do things around the house with the kids following behind you, do you get upset? Do you ask them to go play or yell at them to go play?

I’ve been there!!! I still get impatient after a few days of being home and having this as my reality the whole time.

So instead of picking the fight of telling them to go play, or just do something other than trail behind you for 10 minutes. Maybe we could be creative and find a way to help them find something to do. Playdoh, slime, coloring, drawing on cardboard, or if you really need some time you can use technology and play something educational.

The other day I got the beads out and pipe cleaners and had them make me bracelets. This got their attention focused on the beads and being creative. They did this for half hour and now I have tons of beautiful bracelets to wear! The best part was that I got to pick up the house a bit without followers. Oh the little things in life.

Mindset

On our way to church this morning I was thinking of how I wanted to spend the day afterwards. The kids were taking turns saying Mom from the backseat, and I started to think of a country song I have not heard in a while. It’s called “Your gunna miss this” by Trace Adkins.

It talks about how in each stage of parenting you look back and miss the moments that have gone by. I started to smile thinking of this song, and my mindset changed at that point. I started to think of when they were babies, when they started to crawl, and eventually just how much they have grown.

My whole mindset of being worn out from all the needs of my kids wore off and I was renewed. I started to think about years to come and what I wanted myself to remember about this season of my life as a mom. I don’t want to look back and think I should have done things differently, played with them more, read more books, or just laugh with them instead of get upset that they wanted to be with me every second.

Unless you stop once in a while and really think about this, you will not appreciate your time with your kids as much. Knowing that this will someday be in the past can be hard at times to really grasp, and hard to think about. One of the best things to do, is to journal about your life and really remind yourself that life goes way to fast and if you are not paying attention, before you know it they will be all grown and you will not have that time to really stop, take a breathe, and make sure that your doing your best!

Give an extra kiss

Let your mindset change. Let them be kids. Let them be needy. Let the kitchen and house be a bit messy. Let all the blankets be sprawled across the living room, and have fun playing blanket fort with those little just a bit longer! They are like this for only a short time.

So take more time, let them help, ask a million questions, sit on your lap, or stop for 10 minutes and play with them before you go back to what you were doing.

Mamas you got this! You are their comfort, and their everything. Let that soak in, and love them through all of the mind boggling craziness that they throw at you everyday!

Give extra kisses, hugs, one more story, and all the cuddles they want, for they will not want them long!

– Kristy