One of my goals is to be more spontaneous with my kids. By that I mean that I want to be more willing to put down whatever it is I'm doing and sit down and play with my kids if they ask me to or even if they don't ask me to. I am convinced more and more that one of the best ways to teach your kids is to simply play with them. There are always teaching opportunities in play time, but the most important lesson kids learn is that they are loved. I see that in N all the time. On days when I'm more concerned about all the things I need to get done, he's more grumpy and less inclined to do things I ask him to do. But on days when I take time to give him my time, it's the complete opposite.
It's hard sometimes to set aside the many tasks ahead of me so that I can play with my kids. But the second I do I immediately feel the blessings for doing so. I recently learned a poem that has often come to my mind and reminded me of what's really important in life. Here it is:
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait for tomorrow,
For babies grow up, I've learned, to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.
2 comments:
Amen. I was just talking to Andrea yesterday and telling her how I was planning to do "preschool" with Jonah when the boys started school and every day he has asked me if we can have school and I say, "you know, today is a really busy day, let's do it tomorrow". Andrea said that Samera says "it IS tomorrow, Mom". My tomorrows are going to run out unless I make a plan and stick to it. This morning I made playdough and sat down with him and played for ten or fifteen minutes and then he sat for another fifteen by himself while I busied myself about the kitchen. It saitisfied his desire to play with me and now he won't be asking every day if we have playdough (two birds with one stone.)
I colored with the two littles while Saylor was at school this morning - does that mean I'm a decent mom? I hope so, cause that's all I could muster today. I am determined to get back into some sort of semblance of life now that school is in session, but looks like I'm off to a slow start. I have been indulging in reading FAR too much, and need to put aside my books now and focus on my family.
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