Stormy Days

Whenever I stop to think about it, I'm always astonished at the absolute necessity of good mothers. When you consider the responsibility of nourishing, clothing, teaching, and raising separate human beings to be excellent people, aren't you amazed too? Simply caring for their most basic needs is a formidable task. Add character training, discipline, teaching, and all other life skills into the mix and you begin to realize that it really is the career of careers.

Somewhere in the course of history we've decided that caring for children and tending to their needs is menial labor. That it's unimportant. We are wrong. In our society, juvenile depression and juvenile crime rates have risen for years now. These symptoms tell us we are wrong. The depression one makes me really sad. Depressed kids and teenagers can do weird things. They can do tragic things too sometimes. Should we keep thinking that child care is trivial? No. These symptoms tell us that it is vital to give our utmost energy to the tasks of motherhood. Rank those kids very high on your list of urgency. If we treat the job like it's unimportant, we'll get unimportant results.

I know where your mind is headed (some of you), because mine goes there too. Go ahead. Say it. "What about me?" I know, huh? I want to write. I want to craft, and make floral garlands for my windows. I want to knit. I want to sew and be creative in a thousand other ways. I want to do what I want to do. But. I made the decision to be a mom. So, there you go. I read a great line in "The Well Trained Mind". I can't quote it word for word because all my books are packed, but it's coming from a mom whose kids are grown and she's homeschooled them. "I came to realize that my kids were the most creative project I'd ever been involved in."

I'm not trying to tell moms that they can't have their own hobbies! By all means, take an hour or two a day for yourself and listen to your iPod full blast, or pound out your frustrations on some kind of instrument, read up on your favorite book, finish up a craft project that's been neglected and rejoice that it's finally done. Maybe just do these things while your kids are in bed for the night, or napping. I have more hobbies than I can keep up with. I'm just reminding us all how vital it is that we give of our time, attention, and concentration to these kids that we've decided to bring into the world. I'm going to risk offending someone, but I have to say it. It's selfish to bring kids into the world and then pursue your own interests or talents without moderation. You can be anything in the world that you want to be! But if you decide to be a mother, make a true and wholehearted commitment to it.

The best person to raise a child is that child's mother. Yes, there are grandmas, and daycares, nannies, babysitters, and friends that can step in now and then. But the best person is the mother.