These are the things (and driving them to school counts).
1. Thanks for Listening to almost anything. We listen. Even when it’s a fifteen minute conversation about arachnids or why lava is incredibly dangerous and what would happen if we put a can of soda in lava or about that boy that is kind of cute and we’re now feeling old or about why it’s so essential that we go to Target right now so that we can explore all of the new Legos in the toy section and why the Avenger Lego sets are the most sought after. Moms are listeners (most of the time. I know. I get busted with the Mom? were you really listening? thing too.) and in listening we’re investors.
2. Thanks for Being the Cheerleader. Always. Even on those times when you cringe and look away and wonder why your child is the only one running the wrong way on the soccer field. Or picking dandelions on the soccer field (that happened to me once…). We cheerlead. We love, we believe in them, we give, and we don’t waver. They’re our kids and we’re loving them no matter what. And you know what? Sometimes we get to listen to the words you’re the worst mom ever and why can’t you be like that mom? And yet we still cheer for them. By the way, cheerleaders have thick skin.
3. Thanks for Being the Coach. Different than the cheerleader. The coach is the time that we get a bunch of pushback for. These are the times where we don’t back down in our belief of their capabilities and we just push, push, and push them to be better. Those things are huge. Limits are huge. Our kids might not ever thank us for those times until they’re adults. I know. Coaches say things like you can’t carve your pumpkin until your homework is done and then we wait and wait and wait and listen to it’s not fair over and over until the homework is started and it takes them a whole 15 minutes while we as a coach endured 38 minutes of it’s not fair prior. Be the coach.
4. Thanks for Creating stuff from nothing. Halloween costumes being just one example. Lunches packed on Fridays with bare cabinets as another. Art projects that require glitter or tinfoil or that one straw or a paper tube. Science fair projects that we had two weeks to make and now only one night. We even have the ability to find the one item that everyone else is convinced is permanently lost. Except for library books. Somehow those actually do vanish. Then we just pay the library. With the change that we collected from places that no one ever thought to look.
5. Thanks for Dealing with crazy. Let’s just list some of the crazy. Tantrums over shirt choices. Middle school years. Late nights spent awake wondering if they’ll be home before curfew when you let them take the car. Helping with ridiculously hard search and find puzzles that are part of History homework. Back to school shopping on a budget. Days of boredom in the summer, fall, winter, and spring. Fighting because one sibling looked at the other with one eyebrow slightly raised and that signaled that they were going to then take the only fruit roll up that was left which wouldn’t ever be fair. That’s motherhood. Crazy. This one deserves a gold star.
[Tweet “Thanks mom for all the spiders you made disappear. “]
6. Thanks For Spider Disposal and other Gross Things. Do I need to expand on this? Even though we all probably despise spiders we are the person that is called to deal with them. Plugged toilet? Call mom. Skinned knee? Mom. Puke? Mom. Think of any gross thing and you will find that the synonym for it is call mom. Now, remember, that after one deals with a grossness that you will be the momentary hero. Bask in those moments.
7. Thanks for Laundry. There is a reason we call laundry Mount Washmore. Or consider it our Kryptonite. Or that there are entire Pinterest Boards set up for managing laundry. And us moms? We can find the one matching sock in the laundry basket or can get the favorite shirt, with the berry stain, cleaned within the allotted time. A hairdryer might be used in the last moments, but still, still it counts. So do all the times we get stains out, we pick leaves and burrs out of clothes, we search Crayola trying to find how to get crayon out of our dryer, and so forth. Moms are laundry queens.
8. Thanks for Prepping Good Food (And trying to make it fun). Like broccoli….come on, come on, I know we’ve all said be the giant and eat the big tree. Or when we sneak spinach into smoothies. Or the homemade meals that we made all those years. Feeding kids takes time, money, and patience. After all who wants to hear this is yucky day after day? And oh, yes, we teach them manners to0 -this is yucky – becomes this isn’t really my favorite, mom. This is for all the meals made and all the times we smile and nod when we hear what’s for dinner? and we have no clue.
9. Thanks for Making kids work. Chores rock. Homework (except for maybe that word search) teaches discipline. Helping with the yard work in the fall is excellent. We’ll never hear thanks mom for making me keep my room clean and for taking away screen time privileges when I didn’t when they’re young. But trust me. That’s the stuff that we do because we love them. And I know teaching them chores makes extra work on our plates – but we still do it. Having our eighteen year old know how to do laundry in college is a noble and needed skill.
10. Thanks for Letting kids be kids. For all the times in Target when we needed to just keep moving and we slowed down and let them put the hats on even though we were inwardly cringing about all the other heads who have also tried on those hats and we’re also wondering where the Ridd is as well. For the times when we serve breakfast for dinner or let them have dessert first. For double features on movies. For hot chocolate with whipped cream. For the forts that we lead up even though we’re craving the clean living room. Coolness factor through the roof.
11. Thanks for Just being awesome. That’s what we are as moms. Awesome. Even though we have every single doubt in the world and we sometimes cry in the bathroom behind the door while we eat the chocolate that we hid in the upper shelf behind the creams that we never use anymore but work as the perfect hiding decoy. Even when our kids mess up or our house is a mess. We’re just awesome simply because we’re moms and we love our kids.
[Tweet “Have you thanked your mom today? Here are 11 things to thank her for. “]
You know what?
Thank your mom today. Or tell your fabulous friend who’s a mom thank you.
From me to you.
Thank you.
~Rachel
would you add your things of thanks to this list on facebook
2 comments
Thank you 🙂
Don’t forget many Dads also do these things!