Mothering Young Children (a guest post)

 It amazes me how fast time passes. I still feel like the alone and scared little nine year old girl searching for Jesus, but I now have man size boys looking to me for life's answers. I am also becoming that woman in the grocery store who stops the frazzled young mom and tells them to cherish every moment.... it goes so fast. I get it because along side my man sized boys, I also have two little little boys and I don't cherish time with them enough. It all goes so fast and there is so much to do.

What I want to share with you today is a message that a dear mentor of mine has been telling me for 10 plus years..You see, for the past 17 years I have had a child under five in my care. 17 years. I am so blessed. I know that. I am also so tired and watching others "accomplishing" many many things that aren't possible for me in this season.

 

Jane is a dear friend of mine. She knows many things about many things and is always one step ahead of me in life. Her little ones are 3 boys:  one out of the nest and married, one 20, one 16, and one 13 year old daughtter. She blogs over at Java Janes

and has this to share with our mothering hearts:

Is your tea hot or cold?

So, how many times last month did you get to sit down and rest? How many times did you try only to be called away by an important need? You take care of the problem, and come back to find your tea cold in the cup…

Hmm, chances are you have young children. The younger they are, the more the interruptions it seems. It seems so long ago to me that I’ve had babies and toddlers running around. My kids are 11, 14, 18, and 19, way past baby size. I remember so well older Moms telling me “enjoy these years, they go by so quickly” and while I now know they were right, it really didn’t help much at the time. So, how to enjoy your cup of tea with babies and toddlers? That is what you really need. One thing I did is nurse my little ones. It forced me to sit down and rest. I would use that time to snuggle everyone up and read together. It made a good rest time. So, if you have a nursing baby, give that rest break a try. If you bottle feed, guard it as a rest time. Don’t delegate it to someone else, use it as your rest and snuggle time too! Since your tea has turned cold, throw in some ice and still have your tea break (you won’t burn your little ones with this method).

I get lots of questions about how I home schooled with babies and toddlers. What did I do with them when I was schooling the others? I guess my answer is that I didn’t do anything with them. Home schooling for our family is not separate from being our family. It is part of how we do life, so the babies and toddlers were just included in what we do. If we were reading, they were listening. If we were writing, they had age appropriate writing tools. If we were doing art, so were they. Chances are your school age children are still young as well, and so all of your children are eagerly learning through exploring the outdoors, hearing tons of good books, doing lots of fun experiments, growing gardens, field trips, caring for animals, etc. Hmm, every wonder what they see down there from their view?

So, my challenge this month, continue your tea breaks (hot or cold) and add enjoying a couple of your children’s adventures this month with a child-like wonder. Try it; let me know how it goes

 

 

link to Janes blog:

 

http://javajanes.blogspot.com
 

 

 

 

 

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