April, is Child Abuse Awareness month and it took reading an article to honestly yank my head out of the clouds and realize all the moments I have taken for granted. I just thought "I loved each and every moment. Cherished the best and shelved the rest for a rainy day." I don't love them enough. I don't cherish them enough!! The honest to God reality is; my prerogatives, ambitions, goals and life in general has got to change!
Don't ever let the sun go down on a single second taken for granted. It's easy to let a moment be taken for granted, even the most precious ones. We all do it and most of us realize it and just keep marching forward in our daily lives anyway. I am probably one of the guiltiest people in the world for doing this. Being a stay home mom you always think, "Oh, I can do this with her later." .... "I'll watch it with her later" ... "I have to..."
After reading this article, all of the WHY's are hitting me. All of the HOW's are hitting me. I feel like a small child in the HUGE world of parenting. WHY did I throw out that huge box??? So what it was taking up so much space. Why didn't I think of writing on a mirror with a dry erase marker?? There's so much to do with my child that I would never even consider had it not been for this article.
http://www.helpandhope.org/index.html
There's a song written by Evanescence called "Good Enough". When I heard it, I stopped to think, am I good enough to be a parent? Was I properly chosen to be a parent? Am I fit to be a parent? I'm not like these women who wrote the articles and offered out parenting tips and suggestions! What makes me qualified to be a parent? Is there such a thing? No, there's not.
I'm not perfect... I'm a parent!!
While I am happily married, I find myself raising our daughter on my own because he works out of town all the time. His love for us and his dedication to our family to give us the best life possible keeps him on the road all of the time. When it comes right down to it, BOTTOM LINE, that shouldn't matter when it comes to time. He could be home 24/7 and it should never make a difference when our life time-line applies.
It's not the big things that matter most, it's the small things. Small random moments, little steps... Here's a few things my daughter and I do to fill our days...
1.) Write a story with your child during the day to read at night.
2.) Cut a 2 liter bottle in half and create a bean sprout terrarium. (Excellent learning moment, until my "anti-green thumb killed it.)
3.) Make up a super hero name and use random clothing around the house to make a costume.
4.) Have a "spa day" let your little girl play dress up, play with your make up, use your favorite body wash and perfume. Let
her paint your nails.
5.) Have a tea party
6.) Let your child see how many random objects will balance on your head. (Great for learning weight and balance)
7.) Make up BINGO cards and draw objects instead of numbers. (I write the word on the card and the shape on the call out card. This way we're learning words and how to spell them.)
8.) Use the dining room tables to create a fort. Make some pop corn, crawl inside the canopy and watch a movie. (My daughter loves this. Especially, when it's too hot to play outside.)
9.) Have a picnic style lunch on the front porch.
10.) Bean Bag toss game (I made felt pouches filled with beans and drew on the bags. (Tree, heart, numbers, letters and used large poster boards to make the board.)
After five years, I have learned I don't have forever. I don't have all the time in the world. The clock is ticking down to the moment where my little girl isn't so little anymore and I don't want to have the regret of, "I wish". Darius Rucker wrote a song about five years ago called, Won't Be Like This For Long. It's a touching song and if you've never heard it, grab some tissues before doing so...
I have learned to stop and look, act silly and laugh at little things. Before my baby was born my mom told me, blink and she'll be walking down the aisle. I didn't understand what she meant. But, today I do.
