A woman has not fully shared her amazing talents and skills until she has addressed the topic of logistics. This is especially so for mothers.
The logistics of having a creative, self-assured child develop from necessity.
Here are just some of the spatial challenges I faced with my daughter.
- She figured out how to rock her crib back and forth to move it over to the windows or hall door when she was about 5 months old.
- She rammed the screen door to our patio, with her walker, over and over until the door would pop open
- She walked at nine months.
- By 18 months she got a real screw driver, not the one from her little toy work bench, and removed every screw within her reachin the house, including door knobs, in the middle of the night.
Learning how to out maneuver a creative child before fun turns to chaos is a matter of logistics. Part keeping the child scheduled, teaching trust and consequences, and making sure the child has enough to keep her busy. I was the Girl Scout Leader, the team mom and one year an assistant coach for the soccer team. I felt bedraggled and tired but scheduling was necessary. I only dropped the ball a few times and my daughter survived. So different from my “go outside and play” childhood.
But I did nothing heroic. Moms with multiple children, multiple sports at different fields, field trips, and class volunteer, and maybe church, and scouts, healthy meals, presentable and on time children. How do they do it?
It must be an inherent organizing ability, danger esp, a scheduling genie, and the ability to redirect children to their assigned chores with single glare from your best I mean it mom- face.
Seriously, how did you do it, how did you learn that good enough and sane beats near perfect and crazy? Did you develop a group of mom friends who helped each other out? Did relatives live near by and help out.? Did you have a good enough income to hire a nanny? Did you have to make hard choices and allow your kids limited activities?
How did you swing having a job and caring for your children?
Other moms, future moms, and your daughters, need to know your secrets, what you learned, and what helped you maintain your sanity?
Did you keep a journal, or a date book where you could vent when it all became too much? Go through it an see what you thought at the time.
I’ve said it before, but document and share. No one expects you to have been perfect. Help your family and future mothers out when they say, “I don’t know how she did it?”
I have 6 children spread out 17 years. I was mostly a stay at home mother. We homeschooled the youngest 4. But we lived in the country and they did go outside a lot. They also had each other. Until the only one left at home was the youngest. That was the most challenging. I didn’t try and do a lot else when they were younger, aside from house and kids.
6 kids, yowza. I would have died . Almost died with the one. Emergency C-Section. I enjoyed knowing her teachers and friends. You are hardier than me and probably kinder. I was ready for my daughter to spread her wings.
womenslegacy recently posted…What Do You Know About Your Matriline?
Every motherhood journey is different, and a lot depends not just on the individual and their circumstances, but the time they were living in while mothering. The same tactics won’t necessarily work decades down the line, and each child has different needs. Being a parent is such a hard job full of challenges that impact children for the rest of their lives. It’s scary but rewarding.
Torie, It is rewarding, and there are no guarantees. Parenting practices change and it is the most important “job” in the word. I so hope women increasingly document and share their experiences so future parents can find out what worked and what did not from real life parents.
womenslegacy recently posted…Othering