There is cheese smushed on my kitchen floor.
Do you know why there is cheese smushed on my kitchen floor?
Because I let my kids eat shredded cheese on the kitchen floor…no plates, no silverware…just straight out of the bag.
Sometimes parenting is just that way.
And sometimes you just need to roll with it so you don’t have a freak out.
Which I almost had today.
But I didn’t.
I keep reminding myself that parenting was never intended to be easy…
or always fun…
or always clean.
Parenting is hard.
Intentional parenting is really hard.
But I want intentional.
I want to do the hard things so that I can one day look back and say, “I didn’t do it perfectly, but I chose to push through. I chose to give myself to the hard work of raising children.”
That’s where it gets hard, doesn’t it? When we choose to serve our children through the mess and the mundane.
There are plenty of days when I want to hide in my room all day and do anything other than clean poop, kiss boo boo’s, intervene during the 500 conflicts a day, make PB & J sandwiches, clean up PB & J sandwiches, play Candy Land, spend time preparing crafts that they only play with for five minutes, etc.
Then I pinch myself out of my funk and thank God for the privilege to clean poop, kiss boo boo’s, intervene during the 500 conflicts a day, make PB & J sandwiches, clean up PB & J sandwiches, play Candy Land, spend time preparing crafts that they only play with for five minutes, etc. I don’t want to lose those moments, because those are the moments that make up a life.
It is in those moments that I am the one to say, “great poo honey, soon you can go on the potty” or “it’s okay that you’re having a hard time going in the potty, you and me babe, we’ll keep working on it until you can do it, and I know you can do it!” I have the opportunity to “heal” a hurt, teach kindness and sharing and selflessness through the conflicts, spread love on every sandwich, give my kiddos the spur of the moment time they crave during different intervals in the day, and be pushed and challenged in selflessness by doing the seemingly monotonous things for my little ones that won’t necessarily remember.
But they do take it in.
And it gets in their little psyches.
And memories are filled.
And home is the place where firsts are made and goals are met and the spirit is nurtured.
So yea, parenting is hard.
Intentional parenting is even harder.
Even on the freak out cheese days.
I wouldn’t give it up for anything.
By Sarah Mae, Co-author of Desperate -Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe, and writer at SarahMae.com
Every stinking day girl! Must keep our eyes on the prize!
When I saw the title, I was like, “girl, that’s every day for me!” Seriously. If I can remember when we ate that meal, they can eat it off the floor.
Such a great post. I especially needed to hear the part about poop. Sigh.
This really made me laugh because I was letting my children do the same thing the other night when my SIL (who doesn’t have any children) was shocked and disgusted. She tattled on them to me and I just laughed because that’s just part of our crazy life.
And it’s a good life. One that I wouldn’t change for anything, even on poopy, bickering siblings, craft failure, school’s still unfinished kind of days.
Oh the poop cleaning thing, of my…. things only experienced during motherhood or maybe if you are a nurse (but then again you are getting payed to clean it when you are a nurse, not so much if you are a mother lol yes I use to be a nurse)
Thanks for your sweet words
Love
Renee
i just discovered this website after finishing “desperate”. i have 4 kiddos, 9 to 8 mo., am homeschooling, & was in desperate need of a good, solid breath. and I GOT IT.
thank you. a hundred million times, thank you.
yes, THIS is what i want to be doing, through the puke, the excessive laundry, the mattress i can’t get the smell out of, the brothers that don’t slow down even when there is sick in the house.
this, today, is what i want to be doing, even when i don’t believe it myself.
I have to admit, it was hard when the twins and eldest grandson was living with us. Three, two two month old to six months then their one year old brother. It was a lot of poop. We seemed to go through a lot of nappies. It was a lot of poop. And babies running all over the place in two walkers, screaming at the tops of their voices, hahahahaha,
I for all time emailed this blog post page to all my friends, as if like to read it after that my friends will too.
What a beautiful post. Intentional is not achieving perfection, but embracing each season – in it’s beauty and the mess, realizing that God is present and walking along side us every step of the way! So thankful for the challenge and privilige of nurturing little hearts.
Those are the days that you dont care about the 5 second or 10 second rule. Those are the days that you are thankful and feel blessed that God chose you and entrusted you with His children to have for a period of time. They are only little for a while. Thanks for the reminder. Thanks for your Blog. It is a great blessing to my day.
So true! I’m reading it and crying, and thinking about my two beautiful little babies, that are finally asleep for now (fingers crossed, hahaha
, but will be screaming and pooping and crying and cuddling and smiling and biting and making messes tomorrow all over again… and I’m looking forward to all that, because in a blink of an eye they will move out, starting their own families… so I have to treassure all the poopies and ouchies NOW while I have them.
Ahhh poop story.of.my life. And now we have a puppy…. and a opossum who uses our back yard as his litter box. That doesn’t work real well with a one year old crawling baby….. sooooo I’m cleaning up poop constantly. *sigh*
Thanks foe this I love it!!!
For* not foe
This is so sweet and true! Always see the positive…my daughter is severely allergic to a lot of foods including dairy so another way to look at your cheese fiasco is, praise The Lord my kids can eat cheese!!! There’s a momma out there who would love to watch her children eat cheese off the floor:)
Where can I find posts from Christian moms who have to work full-time outside of the home out of financial neccesity but still want to raise their children to love Jesus?