When I was a young mother of 1 year old twin girls, I ventured out to a Bible study at my church. The group was made up of other moms of young children. It met once a week for a couple of hours. I had wanted to go for some time, and just couldn't seem to get it together to get out the front door and to the church. I was overwhelmed. By the time they were a year old, I thought I could probably manage it, so off I went. This group turned out to be a lifeline for me. I was a stay-at-home mom of two with a husband who was starting a business and, therefore, working from very early to very late. We were doing the best that we could to provide for our girls and take care of each other.
I vividly remember how I felt at that point in my life. I was doing exactly what I wanted to do - I was at home with my two precious girls, taking care of my family and I was completely overwhelmed and worn out. I was happy and thankful, yet I felt out of control. Life was happening so fast and most of the time, I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants, doing just enough to put out a fire before the next one started. Life was becoming a blur.
As I sat listening to one of our speakers, I heard something that would change my life and my approach to parenting from that day forward. Our speaker was a more experienced mom and she was sharing some highlights from a book she had read. (I can't even remember the name of the book - but I can remember her point.) She looked at us and said, "Ladies, you will always have dirty dishes to wash, but you won't always have that little one asking you to stop and read a book to them. Stop and read the book. The dishes will wait.". I knew at that moment that she was right and I didn't want to miss a thing. Besides, I don't like doing dishes anyway, so why not put that off a little longer?
When you are a task oriented person, it can be difficult to walk away from some of the tasks that need to get done. I had to decide, many times over the years, which tasks needed to get done immediately and which ones could wait. That is not always an easy task itself.
I can remember times when I left things undone to spend time with my kids. I can remember times when the stuff of life just had to get done and we had to delay that quality time a little bit. I can tell you this for certain, I don't regret a single time that I let something slip. I do regret any time that I let a small thing like a household chore get in the way of spending time with my children. I regret the times when I thought it was more important to scrub something than to read a book to them. And I am particularly pleased with the times I managed to do both!
When I hear my girls talk about their childhood and the good memories, I never hear them remark about how clean or dirty the house was. I hear them talk about dancing in the kitchen, reading The Goblet of Fire out loud one summer, singing karaoke or playing dominoes. We have some great memories together and I am so thankful for each and every one of them.
Time does, indeed, move quickly. The older we are, the faster it seems to go. If you have young kids at home, enjoy. I know how tough it can be, trust me. I also know that their time with you is brief. It is a sweet time that is much like a whisper, looking back.
The next time you are standing at the sink, doing the dishes or scrubbing the tub and a little one asks you to read a book to them, go! Drop what you are doing, take that child's hand, grab the book and read it! Before you know it, they won't be asking anymore and you'll wish they were.
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