Welcome to Mom Motivation Mondays where weekly contributing writers share their motherhood experiences to encourage you to find the joy in being a mom.
{This week: Post by Jaimi}
On the good days I do not worry about it much. Those days run smoothly, I get to feel like a great mom and my reasons for being a stay-at-home mom are clear. You could say my mission statement as a mom is easy to remember, when things are going well.
It’s the bad days, the days that leave me inhaling deeply in dramatic fashion, where I actually say out loud to my kids, “You guys are stressing me out!” Those days I need a reminder. I need my why for being a stay-at-home mom to be front and center, in my face, recited on repeat in my head.
Moms who work outside of the home have goals they have to set and achieve at work. Those goals have to be achieved for their career to progress. Some are set high to push the person to work harder. Others are necessary tasks that are part of their job description.
Have you ever sat down and written out exactly what your goals are as a mom?
I am not referring to your personal goals over the course of a short term or long term timeline. The goals I am referring to are the ones that could be put together into your mom mission statement.
Why don’t we do this as moms?
Why don’t we see motherhood as our mission, our job, and a valuable goal-oriented part of our lives?
What would be on a mom mission statement?
Let’s think big here, not just the daily tasks you want to complete.
The Daily Checklist for Successful Moms helps guide those daily goals. The Done List idea keeps you reflecting on all that you do accomplish each day.
I am not referring to homemaking tasks or changing all the diapers before they droop below the kids knees. I am talking about a mission statement, a statement of why you are a stay-at-home mom.
What are the things you want to teach your children with your example of being at home?
What are the things that guide you to stay focused on those goals?
How will you carry it all out?
This whole mom mission statement idea connects well to a Facebook Live chat I recently shared in our Stay at Home Moms group on Facebook. The group is a great gathering place for SAHMs whether you are at home full time or part time.
The video I shared over there was “Stay-at-Home Mom 101.” You can view it below:
What we need to focus on in the touch moments are the ‘whys’:
Why do you stay-at-home?
What experiences led you to choose this?
Do you want to succeed at it and find joy?
Creating a mom mission statement will help you stay focused on being the best mom to your children you can be. (And the best wife to your husband you can be too!)
Writing a Mom Mission Statement
Lisa, a Mom Motivation Mondays contributor shared her thoughts on creating a family mission statement. It can give you some guidance on making one specifically for you as a mom.
Here are 3 parts every mission statement should have:
- All about you.
- What are your strengths as a mom?
- What are your weaknesses as a mom?
- All about what guides you. (God, faith, etc.)
- What does your faith lead you to visualize as the “best you”?
- What gives you strength?
- How will you live?
- Who you are + what you follow = your values.
- Your values lead your mission.
These three parts of your mom mission statement will help you focus on all that you are working towards every day.
The work of a mother is not menial, small and able to just be contracted out to the lowest bidder. The role of a mother is important. Look at friends and family who had to live without a great example of motherhood, or who had to grow up with no mother at all.
The work of a stay-at-home mom cannot be boiled down to a few short sentences. Every day requires more than that to describe what you do and how much you impact the lives of your family.
Think of that meme showing a mom who decided to not “do what she does all day” to clearly answer her husband’s question of “what do you do all day?” Have you seen that one?
I often wish I had the guts to just not do what I do all day, but then again, I’d have a lot of catching up to do after that!
Your mission statement as a mom can be written or typed out, posted on your bathroom wall or kitchen cupboard so you can view it several times a day.
If writing out a mission statement seems a little too involved for you, try looking at these printable mom motivation cards or these Bible verses for moms in challenging moments.
Do what it takes to remember your mission as a mom. Finding joy in motherhood means keeping your why firmly in mind especially on the challenging days of being a mom.
What is your mom mission statement?
Jaimi,
This is a great idea! I am so surprised I’ve never thought to do this. I will definitely being trying this out because it is a very important thing to know our mission as a mom. I think it would have helped me if I had done this when Maddie was a baby.
Thanks, Heather! I hope it will encourage moms in those challenging seasons for sure.