The Seasons of Parenting

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 Heather}

The truth is we ALL struggle. Yes, even the woman you bump into at the store who looks put together with her perfect children who are clearly not licking broccoli and appear to listen to her the first time she speaks. On the outside it may appear that everything is working out in her favor. She is one of those “good moms” and you automatically get down on yourself.

You allow yourself to think that your mothering skills are lacking. I mean those are your heathens running around the store despite the fact you have told them 30 times to stop, and you are still in your smelly workout clothes with a lopsided ponytail (this may be a true story).

Some of us have thought to ourselves during our seasons of parenting, “I’ve got this parenting thing down!”  “I am doing it right and nailing it every day.”

We feel on top of the world. We strut around calm and collected. We feel awesome!

Then Tuesday happens. The kids are shouting at one another. You lost your cool…again, and somehow all the parenting confidence you had the day before sails right out that open car window, along with your daughter’s sippy cup.

I’ve been there, and by this I mean yesterday, and the day before, and the day… You get the idea.

I currently swing between two realities in my seasons of parenting: There are days that are so unbelievably awesome I wonder why I don’t have at least two more kids. That is usually followed, quite swiftly I may add, by days of my girls fighting, crying, whining and doing whatever it takes to convince me we’re good with our two. These are followed by other days where I wonder how it is possible that I have a 7 year old and an almost 4 year old, and by almost I mean turning 4 in five days.

The swinging between two realities is something I have yet to master. I don’t completely understand why I get sad that my girls are getting older, but I’ve realized it’s in large part to the seasons of parenting.

Seasons of Parenting Change

There are so many different seasons of parenting it is almost unreal. Some are amazing and awesome and then others are a complete struggle each and every single day. There are more moments than I care to count where I look up and see how fast my girls are changing and then others where the days seem to be moving so slowly it’s as if they are moving backwards. There are seasons where they listen and are eager to please followed by seasons where no one remembers I am the mom and I am supposed to be in charge here, least of all me.

The thing about the seasons of parenting is just that, they are seasons and with each season comes a new and completely different season, no two are ever the same.

I’d love to say to a new mom, “Hey I’ve got this parenting thing down. Don’t worry you’ll get it too.”

That would be a lie. Sorry, but that is the truth.

We all have moments in our seasons of parenting when we think we have this parenting thing down or think we completely understand our kids. That’s just about the time our kids look at us and do something that either makes us teary-eyed and swoon, or makes us look around with the hope that no one else is looking at their current state of behavior.

We’ve all been there when our very hungry child has licked a crown of unwashed broccoli in the grocery store. (Oh wait, is that just me?)

 

The. Struggle. Is. Real.

 

I think whoever came up with this clever saying was clearly talking about the seasons of parenting.

Truth about the Seasons of Parenting

I have good news for you that may offer some much needed relief. It is just that season of parenting for you. It really is, I promise.

If there is one thing I do know it’s that the seasons of parenting move fast. The seasons of parenting are unpredictable. I know that when another mother is looking at me through her rose colored glasses with her perfect, non-broccoli licking children she has yet to reach the season I am currently in. She has yet to discover what I have already learned. Just when I think I can look at another mother with my rose colored glasses, my children change and my season of parenting kindly knocks me back into place.

We all go through the seasons of parenting, although some moms are more graceful, patient, and good-natured about it.

We all go through the ups and downs and continue to learn how to navigate-at times just muddling through-because let’s face it, at times that is all we can do.

 

Have there been seasons of parenting that have been easier or harder for you as a parent?

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Heather lives in Florida with her husband, two girls and two pups. She is a lover of most things in life, too many to name here without scaring you, but a few include working out, learning new recipes, Pinterest, organizing (yes, it’s true!), home decor and learning to lead a more minimal and purposeful life.

At the end of 2014, she was feeling unhappy, burnt out and discouraged but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was making her feel that way. She started Just Becoming Me as a venture to better understand herself and what will lead her towards a more fulfilling life. Her motto is: “We only have one life, and I want to learn to live mine in a way that gets me excited to jump out of bed.”

 

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More posts from Heather:

Working Part-Time Made Me a Better Mom

When You Don’t Enjoy All Moments of Being a Mom

When You are Losing Yourself in Motherhood

Enjoy your time at home!