I thought I was a busy young mom and I know I was. It was physically demanding and tiring to nurse babies round the clock and chase toddlers. Two of my boys are 16 months apart and for a short while both were nursing and both were in diapers. Cleaning up fantastic messes was a daily job. For example one day my sweet 16 who was 2 or 3 at the time, thought it would be great fun for her and a friend to smash tomatoes in the kitchen. I came downstairs from having left them for only 5 minutes to find them gleefully stomping tomatoes. They were thrilled to see the seeds and juice squirt out under their feet. The kitchen floor was carpet. It took hours to clean up the tomatoes out of the carpet, scrub the girls and the walls. And then came the rest that they didn’t smash. I have put out fires in bedrooms from boys playing with matches and swept up quite a bit of broken glass.
These days those messes are a thing of the past. Now if my kids make a gigantic mess they can clean it up themselves. I don’t have to feed them or diaper them. Yet I am still busy. Like today for instance, one son was getting an award at school so I went. Another forgot his lunch, I took it. The daughter took a test and will be out at 12 and wants me to pick her up. The youngest will have field day and I will go to support him. I drive kids and their friends around. I provide birthday presents, teacher presents, and other event presents for them to give away. I check homework and help study for tests. I preread books to be sure they are appropriate. I dye hair and act as fashion consultant. I advocate for their ‘rights’ and ‘needs’ especially those of Mr. 12. I find lost library books and other school items. I provide a listening ear and dispense advice as allowed. (Teen agers don’t really want or like advice, an fyi in case you didn’t know). I still stay up late waiting for them to come home. I give lots of hugs and kisses.
The point of this post is that as a mom you are always busy. You are busy taking care of your children, the how changes as they grow, but the what is the same.
