Mom life is wonderful, but it can be easy to get lost in the everyday chaos of parenting. What is new math? Do those shoes still fit? Have you eaten a vegetable today? When is that dentist appointment? Do we REALLY have another PA Day coming up?? It’s no surprise why we start to wonder about the reasons to be thankful for our kids.
While I love my kids more than anything in the world, that love comes with extra feelings like guilt, worry, and exhaustion. There are times when you stare at your kids’ beautiful faces and are overwhelmed with joy, and times you stare at the clock and count the minutes until bedtime. (For what it’s worth, the latter doesn’t make you a bad person.)
When things get crazy and I’m beating myself up for forgetting to sign my kid’s reading log because I was busy doing ONE HUNDRED OTHER THINGS, I like to take a deep breath and remind myself what really matters: that I have two incredible, smart, loving, hilarious children and more than anything in the world, I’m so grateful to be their mom. I love them like crazy, I like them a lot and there’s no place I’d rather be than with my family. So in honor of Thanksgiving,
Reasons to be thankful for our kids:
1. They make me laugh
I know I’m biased, but my kids are the funniest people in the whole world. (Yours probably are, too.) My son is the most ridiculous, quotable child on the planet, and my daughter has a dry wit that kills me. Even when they’re driving me crazy, they crack me up. There is a happiness in our home that comes from constantly laughing together, and it’s priceless.
2. All of the snuggles
Not a day goes by without plenty of hugs, kisses and snuggles my kids. We are an affectionate family, and so far, they’re not too cool to hug their mom goodbye at school drop-off every morning. I have already warned them that I’m going to be that weird old mom in the Robert Munsch book who sneaks into their house and rocks them in the night, and they’re okay with that (for now).
3. We’re always learning together
I may not understand new math, but I’ve done my best to impart knowledge and values through my parenting. That said, my kids teach me just as much as I teach them. What a gift it is to learn and grow together every day, just by living life, having new experiences, thinking critically and talking about it all over dinner. I may not *need* to know what a giant isopod is but I do, thanks to my kids.
4. They make me experience childhood wonder all over again (but even better)
Being a parent means reliving all of the magical first experiences of childhood, from developmental milestones to that first concert or plane ride. The first time my son saw a sunset, he gasped and launched into a monologue about the colours and brilliant pattern of clouds across the sky. Every sight, taste, smell and feeling we’ve grown accustomed to is new again, and it’s beautiful to watch it all unfold through your children’s eyes.
5. They’re good people
If you ask my kids, they’re going to grow up to be a paleontologist/filmmaker/illustrator and an astronaut/plasticine artist, but all I really want is for them to be good people – and they are. When I look at my children, I see kindness, empathy, enthusiasm and gentle, loving hearts. Yes, they are slowly destroying the couch and occasionally fight like rabid baby raccoons but still, they are wonderful people with an amazing future ahead of them. I’m so grateful to be their mom, and thankful every day that they’re mine.…
