Lisa Hendey describes the importance of not just being "mom," but also of , and she invites us to reflect on the ways that we can share that "real self" with our children so they know our loves.
I think one way I have shared my real self is my passion for reading. I love the fact that I have taught each of my children to read, and then introduced them to a world of great books.
We were traveling on Mother's Day this year, and one of my daughters told me that she still wants to give me a day--a transfered Mother's Day of sorts-- when I have no responsibilities except for reading whatever I want. I can only come downstairs to go out on a run or for meals prepared by others. I love that she knows my love of reading and wants to help me indulge in that.
What "real self" do you share with your children?
For the past few months, I have been very passionate about getting fit and eating healthy. My husband doesn't like to take the kids to the grocery store anymore, because they read the labels "like mom does". Since I've started running, the kids ask me how my run was and how far I ran (insert math lesson on calculating pace). They cheer me on and ask to take them all down to the local track to do intervals.
ReplyDeleteI so wish my kids would ask to run with me! I have to "force" them when we go to the track, but they always enjoy themselves when I do. I hope it will stick eventually.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... I never thought about their being any difference between me as a mom and my 'real self'. I think that homeschooling and being in such close quarters requires us to be authentic all the time!
ReplyDeleteBut I can share a wonderful story of a woman who lived in the neighborhood where I grew up...and recently moved back to. On the corner with the hill was a small grey-shingled colonial house where Mrs.Harriette June McHenry lived. The neighborhood girls would gather every chance we got, ring her doorbell, and come into her home for hot cocoa in demitasse cups or lemonade in crystal cups. And we would talk! Mrs. McHenry told us of her childhood, as we told her of ours... albeit 60 some years apart.
She would tell us how her own mother would pack up her watercolor paints and an easel, give little Harriette a small picnic, and they would walk the mile from downtown Peoria to the countryside. Her mother would spend the day painting landscapes while Harriette played in the pastures and creeks. As it turns out, that pasture is now the neighborhood where I live.
Mrs. McHenry *KNEW* her mother in a way that words could never express. Her mother lived her passions and never excluded her children. They lived their lives in harmony, learning from one another.
THis has been an inspiration to me with my own children. My hobbies, passions and 'real self' are who my children deserve.