Parenting isn’t always an easy job. Sometimes you feel like you’re running around on a hamster’s wheel, running like crazy but going nowhere fast. Some days feel like a drain, and by the time evening comes around it might seem that all you’ve done is nag and referee and yell your way through the day. And you think “What on earth…?!”
Then, you’ll get something like this…
An “I love you card” made by my six year old son who is now at the age where hugging mum perhaps isn’t that cool. And saying “I love you” to her certainly isn’t. Even with the threat of tickling.
But as I sat at my desk last week this card was placed in front of me, with the deliverer making a hasty retreat to the front room. And I opened it up to read…
Note the “… and others”. He obviously got fed up of writing everyone’s names individually by the end of it.
I called him back in and asked him if he’d drawn me the card and he nodded, awkwardly. Then I hugged him and thanked him and asked him if he really did love me, and rather than pulling away as has become the norm for him lately, he leant his head into my shoulder and said (very quickly!) “Yes-I-love-you”.
And those seconds were the most precious.
The smallest smidgeon of time which reminded me that even the heaviest “What on earth…?!” moments or even days are far outweighed by the fleeting moments of time which tell me that it’s all worth it. It’s so worth it.
And I felt like the tallest, strongest, luckiest person in the world.
Oh my. You can’t get anything more precious than that. I am a big advocate of children making gifts and cards for their parents. I have never thrown out any note ever drawn or written to me by my children. Would rather have them than gold. You are very rich.
Just visiting a few folks after the blog party. God’s blessings.
That is just precious! There are really times when I would feel really burned out, but my daughter somehow reminds me that I am truly blessed. My daughter is too young to make notes, and I’m curious at what she’ll write soon. LOL