My son’s a morning person; I’m not. Does this cause conflict? Most of the time it doesn’t. He wakes up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and I can’t wake up without at least one cup of coffee. This morning was one of those mornings when he seemed especially luminescent and I was especially comatose. Not only did I not want to get up, I didn’t want to wake up. Tyler, on the other hand, was raring to go. First, he wanted to talk about a dream he had. A dream of our return to New Orleans. Then he wanted to talk about his upcoming birthday and all the presents he expected to get. I grunted here and there but I wasn’t fully awake. He wanted to know what I dreamed about last night.
“Sleep,” I grunted.
“Seriously,” he asked.
“Sleep,” I grunted again.
“Okay, be that way,” he said, and trotted off.
The fun thing about having kids is that even the youngest in the bunch soon learn to put up with their parents’ little quirks and eccentricities. Tyler knows that I likes my cup of java and that I’m not up to speed until I have had at least half a cup. This does not stop him from rattling on but he knows he won’t get my full attention until I am fully awake.
I used to feel like a bad mommy when I couldn’t rouse myself enough to have a full-attention conversation with Tyler. Then I realized that entertaining him 24/7 isn’t my responsibility. He has to learn to amuse himself. I’m a staunch advocate of giving kids quality time and attention but there are limits.
I was reading the other day where a mom mentioned that parenting, especially a young child, can be boring at times. When I read this, my mouth flew open because I had just had the same thought a few days earlier. I love being a mom but yes, it can get boring- reading the same book over and over, watching the same DVD, the endless attempts at attention. Most of us don’t want to admit that we get bored with our kids because we feel like something’s wrong with us when really what we are feeling is natural.
Being a parent is hard work. We have to cut ourselves some slack and not worry too much about whether we’re “doing it right.” After all, we won’t really see the fruits of our labor for years to come. Having my son tell me that he loves me several times a day shows me that apparently I’m on the right track.
See also:
Words You Should Use Every Day With Your Kids