I am a Mother

My Friend Melissa wanted to do something special for Mother's Day so she proposed a Mother's Day Writing Challenge. Here is my contribution:

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I am a Mother

A couple of weeks ago I was in the company of some women in my neighborhood. One woman was describing her husband's anxiety over a child who had gotten up after being tucked in. The child spent 20 minutes in the bathroom doing who knows what. She told her husband that the child knows if he gets up he needs to put himself back to bed and not to worry about it.

We all pondered the complexity of child-rearing--when to insist things go a particular way versus when to sit back and let things go the way they will. It is an interesting question to ponder even if there is no rule for for what level of control should be implemented--ever. It depends on the situation; it depends on the child; it depends on the parent.

It depends on the parent!?! I have no children. I have no prospects of children. But increasingly am insisting that I know what I would/should do in any given situation with my children. I think this need stems from the fact that I think I could have children if I just knew what to do with them. So figure it out---fast!

For example, to feed my dog, I check her bowl on the floor. If it is empty, I fill it. If it is full, I don't. If I need food, I go find a window through which someone will give me a chicken snack wrap and a diet beverage (if it's lunch). It is usually the case that I do not have anything on hand that could be used to assemble a "good" meal. Right now, I don't think I could come up with a recipe suitable for children. I just tried. All I could think of of is to-go snack wraps and curried vegetables.

In reality, I putting too much pressure on myself. The thing that inspires me the most about Mothers is their ability to adapt. They figure things out, make things work. They are the person their children need them to be.

I adapt. I make things work. But, I am the person my children need me to be? Yes, because I am a Mother.