It has been a busy week at Encouraging Moms at Home. We are knee-deep in the 30 Days of Giveaways series — about half-way through and still trying to get the word out about all the awesome prizes up for grabs and at the same time launching the brand new website into internet-land. That translates into a lot of extra work or this Mama. My children need me more then ever though!
I found myself losing patience with little people over really silly things in my rush to get everything done — homeschooling, blogging, cooking, cleaning, nurturing, and all the rest. The busier I became, the more crazy my kids seemed to be. Little boys started sneaking candy, books started getting dumped off of shelves, and cereal was showing up everywhere. Everyone needed some positive Mommy attention, but I was using every spare moment to “get something done.” We were bordering on chaos.
I snapped at one precious boy as I struggled to find just the right Thanksgiving video for my little ones to watch through the Amazon Prime video streaming. That’s when I realized how much stress I was putting myself under. We usually do this to ourselves don’t we? My boys didn’t care if they watched an educational Thanksgiving video or not. They had already done plenty of school for the day, and they were happy with A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. But I was short and stressed over details that won’t matter twenty years from now. My seven-year-old might just remember being snapped at though.
I had to take a deep breath, apologize to him with hugs and tender words, coax him back to the living room for a video with popcorn, and reevaluate why I am doing what I do. I love to bless my readers here at Homeschool Encouragement, but I am more interested in blessing my family with my words and deeds. It was time to pull away from an endless Mommy to-do-list and just be with my kids.
Striking that balance is really difficult, and with the busyness of the holidays upon us — life is not going to slow down any time soon. Life won’t ever slow down in fact. We are the ones that have to slow down I think.
I recently asked this question on our Facebook Page. “If you could take a break right now, and do something fun with your kids – what would you do?” I got some fantastic responses!
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