This post is really just the writings of a mom of preschoolers. I've been struggling with feelings of being overwhelmed and just plan discouragement. However, I know that when I look beyond myself and my challenges of the days, Christ is all I need. I look at my children with dismay at all that they need to learn...to listen, to obey at the first command, to be honest, to be kind, to have sweet words, etc.
This past week, I read a book by Rachel Jankovic called "Loving the Little Years". I enjoyed it so much that I am reading it again already! It was the best book I've read in a while and met me on a level I could relate to with my children. In her book, she offers many challenges her readers one of which is to look at their children as individuals not as a group. It is especially easy for me to look at my children as a group simply because there are so many of them close together!
It's easy for me to get discouraged and think that I'm not seeing any progress, but progress is there....it's just that as soon as one child learns to something right, the next one in line picks up the bad habit! For example, Garett has learned to stay in his seat until the car has parked and to not unbuckle his seat belt, etc. but Chandler has recently moved up into a booster seat and now we are facing challenges with helping him learn the same things. Or Chandler knows to write only on paper, but Wyatt has a desire to write on anything but paper! Or I'm in the kitchen baking and one child wants to help and suddenly I'm surrounded by three little people all wanting to help! "Can I put that in?" "Mom, I was here first!", "Chandler has the eggs, Mom!", and so on. I have to remind myself that it's not that they are overwhelming as an individual, but when there are three of them, soon to be four, it can seem to be a little much. And sometimes, I have to put the brakes on the whole train of little ones and just say, "Mom doesn't have a job for you today, and I need to get this done quickly." But I want those words to be far less frequent than "Okay, you can help me today". When they get to "help", their faces little up, the noise level increases, and chaos is on the verge of commencing, but these are the moments that I will treasure all my days....I just have to remind myself of that now!
My challenge to myself has been to work at giving them each one job to help include all of them and to see them each as an individual child who has a unique personality. It's not their fault that there are so many of them close together! So, I must deal with it in a Christ-like manner and work constantly at letting them see Christ in me, whether it's through my actions, my tone of voice, my response to them, the time I spend with them, and my character.
Oh man! I honestly don't know how you can survive your days! I only have 2 and some days feel so discouraged with all these things and lose my patience and then feel bad all over again. Thanks for the post
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