12/28/09

A good reminder for mommies like me.

I don't know about other moms but I constantly battle the balance between chores and time spent with my kids. Actually, I need to clarify "time with my kids". I have no shortage of time with them. In fact I have a most definate lack of time without or away from them in any given day. We are together , frequently in a confined space, from the time the rooster crows (literally) to the time I chase them into bed. Even then, we sleep only feet from each other. There is no sending them on their way on the school bus each morning or dropping off at pre-school. I think that this is sometimes where the problem lies for me. I am surrounded by activity, chores, behavior modification issues, homeschooling etc. etc. for so many hours a day that I forget to stop and just enjoy them. I forget there is another whole aspect of parenting that includes spontanteous snuggles, listening to tales of conquest and adventure, stopping to smell flowers and all the things that make parenting more than just a job.
I am realizing how very intentional yet completely spontaneous that has to be. Thats my goal for this week. We'll see how it goes.
While here at the mission we are parenting in public 99% of the time. Moms know what a challenge that can be to our pride, our confidence and our nerves in general. I have started to slip into the ragged nerve frazzled mom role,more concerned with how my kids appear at any given moment than who they really are and what they actually need from me. That nervous twitchy mom starts to get paranoid and over reactive. I really don't like that person.

My resolve this week is to find my inner calm mama. The one who can untangle two little boys from a wrestling match gone awry without joining in the fight. The one who can genuinely smile at pews full of people as she escorts her wailing two year old out the back door of the church. The mom who can gently remind a chronically absent minded 6 year old to take his clothes off and put them on again the right way, preferably with the tag in the back and inside the shirt, without pulling out her hair in mind numbing frustration. The mom who can find the will power to turn off the super hero dvd and read her kids a book.



"Song for a Fifth Child.

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep. "


ok so I don't have a baby right now....or a rocking chair for that matter, but I do have dust...and kids. You get the point :)

1 comment:

Rebecca M said...

Oh my goodness.
This poem!
I love it. I've never seen it before. I can relate so much to the thoughts expressed here in this post, Carla. I'm with my kids all day every day too and I think I'm beginning to see it more as quantity and not so much quality time.
Looking for my inner calm mama too!