As a parent of a preschooler, you’ve likely survived many sleepless nights, many tired days, tantrums, wiping a lot of bottoms and noses and other body parts. You’ve scheduled your child for medical appointments, soothed damaged and bleeding bits, and you’ve probably dealt with a child who’s been hurt by others and has hurt others. As a mom recently commented to me when making some medical decisions for her child: sometimes it’s no fun being the adult. Sometimes you want to cry for your own mommy to make the decisions.
A few months ago, I discovered Mommy Merit Badges. I love the idea behind these badges. When I got through a year of nursing my daughter, I wanted a badge. In fact, I thought that I needed a major ceremony, perhaps a public event in which everyone told me how amazing it was that I had nursed a very needy and nurse-y child to the age of one, especially after the struggle we had nursing at the beginning.
Now, I didn’t really want a party. But when we become parents, often our landmarks, our extreme challenges, and the occasions that are meaningful to us are not meaningful to anyone except us. No one gives you a grade for parenting, and no one gives you a party or a medal. Most of the time, landmarks like a year of nursing or the first 6 hours of solid sleep go unnoticed by anyone except for you and your partner.
When my daughter weaned, I decided to give both of us a memory of those years spent nursing. We ordered special rings, and she wears hers around her neck sometimes. I wear mine on my finger. It’s a quiet, special way to commemorate the connection that we had and that we still have, and it doesn’t require a party.
Have you done something to remember a special change or event in your child’s life?