I really love being a mom. I knew I always would – it was something that I really looked forward to.
After Adam and I married, our first child came way faster than we had planned, but I am so glad that God knew what timing was best. I’m so grateful that we had children when we did. Sharing the parenting role with Adam has been full of so much joy and beauty!
While our boys have their tough moments and imperfections like all kids do, generally they are just SO much fun! We get to spend a lot of time with them which is awesome. We never really did daycare with them so they’re home with us most days. We’re learning to just balance it out with them. They come into our lives and we come into theirs – we find the ebb and flow as we make it all work. With three boys under the age of 7, there is truly NEVER a dull moment!
Parenting is such a blast, but it can be a huge challenge sometimes too! Here are a couple of my recent take-aways on how to navigate the ups and downs of it all:
Be Willing to Learn
I feel like I’m on a constant learning curve. Not only just with balancing the needs of 3 young boys and their ever-changing developmental stages, but with my own mental, emotional and spiritual growth. I find that my kids teach me things that I would have never expected and sometimes they’re a challenge to learn!
Adam and I are trying to set examples as best we can of a life filled with faith, strong character, loving your neighbor, pursuing your passions and focusing on what really matters. However, as parents, our imperfections can be spewed out onto our kids before we know it! It takes a lot of humility and soul-work to fill this role as best as we possibly can, even in our weaknesses.
Let Your Kids Fall
I was so cautious with my first son, Tobias. I tried to catch his falls as much as possible and when he did fall, I rushed over to help him get back up. However, with Wesley, I started to relax a bit. I noticed that if he fell, he quickly learned how to get back up and was just fine. Now my mindset with Micah is, “it’s ok, he’ll get back up” so I just let him do his thing and toddle all around. If he falls, he falls and he will be ok.
It’s actually been really cool to see the boys now growing up so confident! It’s good for them to fall, to get scrapes and bruises and a little beat up sometimes. They learn to be tough and they have a more grounded and realistic outlook on life.
Lean-in to Teaching Opportunities
We homeschool our boys and that’s been a really great experience so far, but even if you don’t homeschool, there’s still so much you can do! See the world through your kids eyes and get excited about all that you can help them learn!
I find that there are so many learning opportunities for the boys as we simply go about a typical day. They learn about ocean life when we’re at the beach, about healthy eating as I cook dinner and about where food comes from when we work in our garden, just to name a few examples! There are so many things in our beautiful world to teach our kids about!
Being a mom (or a dad!) is a bit of a wild journey, but I wouldn’t trade this season for the world. I encourage you to get creative as you learn to find balance and make the most of this season with your kids!
I’m cheering you on to be the best parent you can be!
