DISCLAIMER: I LOVE MY CHILDREN…I
LOVE BEING A MOM…I AM BLESSED TO GET TO STAY HOME WITH MY KIDS!!! I HAVE PLENTY
OF UPLIFTING MOM POSTS, BUT LIKE ANY JOB, THERE ARE CONS AND THIS POST IS A BIT
OF A VENT! READ WITH CAUTION AND HUMOR!
Every mom of young children has heard this phrase no less than a sickening amount of times from family, friends and ESPECIALLY strangers, "enjoy it now while you can because before you know it they will be grown up!"
Now, I know this is coming from a very loving place, but it is also coming from a very REMOVED place.
Yes, time has a way of easing the
difficulties and glamorizing the special moments. And I am thankful for that trick of time,
because honestly, living through the rough times once is enough!
How can they look at this
ragged, struggling mother, and not remember what it was like 20 + years
ago. When they were the ones who were trying
frantically to get a binkie in one kid’s mouth and keep the other kid’s hands
off the produce while pushing the cart and shoveling things in from the shelves
hoping they are on the list just to get out of the store before the kids really
start making a scene!
That’s like me looking at a high
schooler while she is crying because she didn’t get asked to Prom and saying, “these
are the most worry free years of your life, enjoy them while you can!”
NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR IT! You know
why, because at that moment life is hard.
Looking back at it through rose colored glasses, you might see it
differently, but in the moment it sucks!
Young moms, it’s okay to long for
the day when you can sit down at the table and all your
kids can feed themselves. It’s okay to
hate changing your outfit because you have someone else's bodily fluids on you.
It’s okay to yearn for the day when you will grocery shop using a cart without
a car on the front and drive through the bank without your kids asking for a
sucker from the teller (how do they remember the one stinking time the lady
gave out suckers at the bank!). It’s okay to despise shoes with
laces. It’s okay to cringe at the
thought of lugging the stroller out of the car for a 10 minute errand. It’s okay to pray for the day your oldest is
capable of babysitting their younger siblings so you can leave the house
without paying an obscene amount of money for a babysitter. And it’s certainly okay
to want to bang your head onto the steering wheel rather than walk around the
car four times to get everyone in and out of car seats (all you needed was
laundry detergent so you could go home and wash the bodily fluids off your
clothes).
Moms of itty bitties, it’s okay to
wish your life away sometimes. Don’t
feel guilty when through your gritted teeth and plastered smile you secretly
want to knock the old woman out for saying, “don’t blink, before you know it
they’ll be grown!” as your baby sneezes green goo snot all over your hand and
your toddler throws yogurt over the side of the cart to watch it explode.
Cut yourself some slack, this is a
HARD time in life. I’m not saying it is
going to get easier (little kids, little problems, big kids, big problems), but
I am saying just acknowledge that what you are going through is hard!!!
I long for the day when I look
back at these years and only remember the good times of sprinklers and snuggles
and bedtime stories, but that day is NOT today.
Someday, when I am finally the
older lady at Target and I am watching the young mom in her sweats as she wipes
all her kids’ noses with the same tissue, busting open a bag of goldfish for
them to share while she finishes shopping, I am going to say to her, “YOU WILL
SURVIVE! THIS TOO SHALL PASS!!!”
That is if I ever survive this
phase and make it to be the old lady at Target!
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