“You rock!” “I’m cheering for you!” “I love you!” “I’m proud of you!” “I miss you!” Those were the words on the notes I was hiding for my two boys, before I left town. As I was hiding the notes, I was wondering, “Do I rock as a mom? Will they miss me?”
But I secretly placed notes on their clothes, their daily snacks, soccer shin guards, a belt buckle, in their drinking cups, and on scooters and bikes, all the while excited to surprise them yet questioning my significance as their mother.
You see, what started this questioning was something that happened a few days before. I had sat my boys down with a calendar to show them how many days I would be gone and what day I would return. My youngest, is a very affectionate child, so I knew he would miss me. My oldest is more independent but I was surprised when he said, “That’s okay. I’ll be fine. I don’t care that you will be gone that long.” And then he ran off to play. Even though I wanted the boys to be prepared for my absence, my heart sank when my oldest said that he didn’t care. In addition, my husband is a very involved parent, so I began to question if he would do a better job than me in the daily details of parenting and running our household.
Much to my surprise, though, every time I called home, my oldest would talk of nothing else except to hound me about the whereabouts of all the notes. My heart was thrilled that he was thriving on my notes of encouragement. His excitement spoke to my heart, “You rock, mom! What you do and say does matter.” Besides the fact that it took one husband, two grandparents, and a kind neighbor to do my mothering job.
Upon my return home, the boys had left notes on my bike and guess what they said? “You rock!” and “I miss you!” In addition, I was somewhat thrilled that the house was a mess! I thought, “They do need me around here! My house keeping rocks!”
The dailiness of our mothering does matter. It may seem mundane and like anyone could step in and do just as well or better. But only you matter to your children. You rock, mom!
But I secretly placed notes on their clothes, their daily snacks, soccer shin guards, a belt buckle, in their drinking cups, and on scooters and bikes, all the while excited to surprise them yet questioning my significance as their mother.
You see, what started this questioning was something that happened a few days before. I had sat my boys down with a calendar to show them how many days I would be gone and what day I would return. My youngest, is a very affectionate child, so I knew he would miss me. My oldest is more independent but I was surprised when he said, “That’s okay. I’ll be fine. I don’t care that you will be gone that long.” And then he ran off to play. Even though I wanted the boys to be prepared for my absence, my heart sank when my oldest said that he didn’t care. In addition, my husband is a very involved parent, so I began to question if he would do a better job than me in the daily details of parenting and running our household.
Much to my surprise, though, every time I called home, my oldest would talk of nothing else except to hound me about the whereabouts of all the notes. My heart was thrilled that he was thriving on my notes of encouragement. His excitement spoke to my heart, “You rock, mom! What you do and say does matter.” Besides the fact that it took one husband, two grandparents, and a kind neighbor to do my mothering job.
Upon my return home, the boys had left notes on my bike and guess what they said? “You rock!” and “I miss you!” In addition, I was somewhat thrilled that the house was a mess! I thought, “They do need me around here! My house keeping rocks!”
The dailiness of our mothering does matter. It may seem mundane and like anyone could step in and do just as well or better. But only you matter to your children. You rock, mom!
3 comments:
This warmed my heart. You do rock, ya know. Love you, Crista
I love your blog! How inspiring to hear this message, it really makes me feel like I rock. You rock too!!! Love you lots, Lisa.
I love this... it made me cry!
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