"Parenting is part joy and part guerrilla warfare." Ed Asner.
My mom made a lot of personal sacrifices to be a good mom. For instance, she and my dad decided, after a lot of prayer, that they would home school us. I was almost eight. My parents were tentative to take the plunge. They were terrified! My mom had no idea how she was going to handle five children at home all day every day! She certainly had no idea how she was going to educate them at the same time! However, over the next fourteen years, I watched her do it.
I remember:
Hours she spent helping each one of us through pages of grueling math problems. She was just as happy to master a concept as we were!
Her studying our grammar books so that she could answer our questions about compliments and gerunds.
Her reading stacks of books from the library to us. She would read to us and explain history and science, language and art.
She was (still is) particularly good at designing good field trips or projects! Yay for field trips!
She would often bear her testimony about little things like forgiveness or accountability while she was making us food in the kitchen or driving us to soccer games.
Mothering us was tough. I know she had to give up chances to travel with my dad, take music lessons of her own, be around other adults, work out at the gym, or pursue her writing career. She had to sit inside and deal with five different grade levels of subjects, five different attention spans, and five different tempers every day for years!
However, she has often told me that it was all worth it. She has told me that she loves me and that family comes first. I am grateful to my mom for her example and I hope that I can be like her when I grow up!
That being said, my mom is the pro. She is the best at both joy and warfare when it comes to parenting. However, she did not become good at it all at once.
My mom made a lot of personal sacrifices to be a good mom. For instance, she and my dad decided, after a lot of prayer, that they would home school us. I was almost eight. My parents were tentative to take the plunge. They were terrified! My mom had no idea how she was going to handle five children at home all day every day! She certainly had no idea how she was going to educate them at the same time! However, over the next fourteen years, I watched her do it.
I remember:
Hours she spent helping each one of us through pages of grueling math problems. She was just as happy to master a concept as we were!
Her studying our grammar books so that she could answer our questions about compliments and gerunds.
Her reading stacks of books from the library to us. She would read to us and explain history and science, language and art.
Her going to her room to cry when things were frustrating. Sometimes, if I peeked in, I would catch her praying.
She would often bear her testimony about little things like forgiveness or accountability while she was making us food in the kitchen or driving us to soccer games.
Mothering us was tough. I know she had to give up chances to travel with my dad, take music lessons of her own, be around other adults, work out at the gym, or pursue her writing career. She had to sit inside and deal with five different grade levels of subjects, five different attention spans, and five different tempers every day for years!
However, she has often told me that it was all worth it. She has told me that she loves me and that family comes first. I am grateful to my mom for her example and I hope that I can be like her when I grow up!
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