{"id":33,"date":"2011-05-27T23:48:23","date_gmt":"2011-05-28T03:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/sweetshore\/?p=33"},"modified":"2011-05-28T21:41:32","modified_gmt":"2011-05-29T01:41:32","slug":"how-to-survive-and-enjoy-motherhood-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/sweetshore\/2011\/05\/how-to-survive-and-enjoy-motherhood-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Survive (and enjoy) Motherhood-Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\ufeff\ufeff<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
(I’m on the right)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

(Originally published on Mother’s Day 2011)<\/p>\n

\ufeff\ufeff I thought that since today is Mother’s Day, I’d let you in on a few things I’ve discovered about “mothering.”\u00a0 Some of these I learned by actually practicing them when I had children at home and the others are things I wish I’d been better at:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A little about myself:\u00a0 I’ve been married for almost 40 years (yep, all of them to the same man).\u00a0 We’ve been blessed with four children (a term I have to use lightly these days)–two boys and two girls, in exactly that order.\u00a0 All of them are safely married to people we truly love\u00a0and get along with, and we are\u00a0the proud grandparents of 8 granddaughters and\u00a0a new one is coming\u00a0later this year.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I certainly don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I do know a few things that work, as well as a couple of things I wish I’d known about when I was having babies and bringing up my family.\u00a0 So, in no particular order, here they are…<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Always remember that whatever stage you are going through with your child is not going to last forever.<\/strong> You need to remind yourself of this when you are up at 2, 3, 4, 5 a.m. with a crying newborn or a baby that has an ear infection.\u00a0 You also should think about this when you have “terrible toddlers” who want to say “No!” to everything and throw occasional screaming-on-the-floor temper tantrums.\u00a0 Also, when your son or daughter enters the uncertain time of junior high, and the breaking away period that is known as high school.\u00a0 As traumatic as these may seem, if you can just say, “It’s not going to last forever…”, it helps to give it a little perspective. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

While I’m on the subject,\u00a0this also applies to those times when your tiny one is asleep on your chest and you have a house that needs cleaning…when you are the 911 for any injuries, hurt feelings or other traumas\u00a0that are endured during childhood.\u00a0 These days are, in fact, so fleeting that if you don’t take time to\u00a0consciously note them, they are gone and you’re left standing there wishing for some of it back…<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Keep your SENSE of HUMOR!!! <\/strong> I can’t stress this one enough.\u00a0 Enjoy the\u00a0humor that can be found\u00a0all around you…your\u00a08-month-old eating spaghetti with her raincoat on, the\u00a02-year-old that poops in the bathtub, an 8-year-old saying something funny on purpose! If you teach\u00a0your children to handle life with the ability to laugh\u00a0at themselves, shake it off and go on, they will be\u00a0able to\u00a0keep things in the proper perspective and not be so serious about everything.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Read to your children.<\/strong> Spending this quiet time is so important.\u00a0 It slows down the world, gives you\u00a0a special\u00a0time of interaction with your child(ren) and opens their eyes to worlds they haven’t seen.\u00a0The ability to read and understand starts very early…<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Teach your children\u00a0some common courtesy.<\/strong> They will be easier to live with and a joy to take out in public.\u00a0 I have to say, this is missing in so many households right now, and when these kids are unleashed on an unsuspecting world…watch out!\u00a0 When you’re in a store like “Hobby Lobby” with all of it’s beautiful, breakable things, and a group of 7th-8th graders are chasing each other around the store.\u00a0 Then there’s always the screaming child whose mom just keeps ignoring the noise while everyone else\u00a0in the store or restaurant is\u00a0muttering “Take that kid out of here NOW and get him straightened out.”\u00a0\u00a0Teach your children to let others go first in line at the church potluck and that taking no more than two cookies, etc.\u00a0at a time is considered polite.\u00a0 Make sure that when they are in stores with you they are not touching everything in the store.\u00a0 My mom drilled it into us that we were to\u00a0“look but not touch” and boy, did we get it.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Pick your battles.<\/strong> If your toddler wants to dress herself for the day and wear a pink frilly tutu with her turquoise-colored pajama top and red cowboy boots, let her be creative.\u00a0 There are many\u00a0guidelines and moral issues that are not negotiable, but before you go to war with your child over something, determine if “it’s a bridge you want to die on.”\u00a0\u00a0Where\u00a0leniency can be allowed without\u00a0physical harm or\u00a0loss of moral integrity, be flexible.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I’ll post the rest tomorrow…tune in for more.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\ufeff\ufeff (I’m on the right) (Originally published on Mother’s Day 2011) \ufeff\ufeff I thought that since today is Mother’s Day, I’d let you in on a few things I’ve discovered about “mothering.”\u00a0 Some of these I learned by actually practicing them when I had children at home and the others are things I wish I’d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":424,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[503,502,14,9,7,6,8,13,12,15],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to-survive-and-enjoy-motherhood-part-1","tag-babies","tag-children","tag-courtesy","tag-home","tag-mothers-day","tag-motherhood","tag-mothering","tag-read","tag-sense-of-humor","tag-toddler"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Survive (and enjoy) Motherhood-Part 1 - Sweet Shore<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/sweetshore\/2011\/05\/how-to-survive-and-enjoy-motherhood-part-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Survive (and enjoy) Motherhood-Part 1 - Sweet Shore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\ufeff\ufeff (I’m on the right) (Originally published on Mother’s Day 2011) \ufeff\ufeff I thought that since today is Mother’s Day, I’d let you in on a few things I’ve discovered about “mothering.”\u00a0 Some of these I learned by actually practicing them when I had children at home and the others are things I wish I’d…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/sweetshore\/2011\/05\/how-to-survive-and-enjoy-motherhood-part-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sweet Shore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-28T03:48:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-29T01:41:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-aTtx2kViuqY\/TceKPwCCqEI\/AAAAAAAAARA\/49cdV7-h1-E\/s200\/Copy+of+sixties-2+036.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nora Puls\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Survive (and enjoy) Motherhood-Part 1 - 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