Time

Have you noticed that kids take up a lot of time? For instance, mealtimes. Preparing food for kids, making sure they eat an adequate amount, cleaning up the food that didn't make it into their little tummies, eating food yourself, and then the dishes....well, it's all quite time consuming. I don't really need to mention all the other things, like getting them all bathed, dressed, teeth brushed, and out the door....then it's another thing just getting them all buckled in the car....then we've got activities, sports, lessons, playtime....and have you ever noticed how long it can take to clean up after a good long day of playing? 

Blanket forts, Legos, blocks, play-doh, Barbies, cars and trucks, doll houses, dress-up, coloring, scissors and paper snowflakes, dinosaurs, tea parties...

Time. It all becomes about time. 

And maybe sometimes, we start wondering about our own time, you know, like when do we, as parents, get time for ourselves? Often we get very little, or we have to lock ourselves in the bathroom to get a bit of time to ourselves on one of "those days"....if you know what I mean! 

But the thing is, it's always been about time and it always will be about time. But instead of us focusing  on the amount of time we do or most often don't get for ourselves, we need to remember that:

Kids take up a lot of our time, because they truly NEED our time. They really, really do. 

So, as much as us parents DO need time for ourselves, because it's so vital in helping us be great parents, let us try to remember to not be bitter about how much we actually get....just take what we can with a full and grateful heart, and carry on. 

And on days when the older kids are in school, and the busy baby goes down for a nap, and all you have left is your toddler, who doesn't nap anymore, but very well could take one, and that would leave you with a possible BLISSFUL two hours of free time to do what you've been dying to do for weeks...well....on days like that, when there is fresh snow on the ground, and that little toddler is running around the house in a pajama shirt, underwear, and snowboots ready to head out the door and make a "sandcastle", you just get that moment of clarity....

My free time Is WITH HER. And all those other times, my free time was with my children, making lunch together, examining the floor for the missing Lego piece, brushing hair and fixing lopsided ponytails, playing monopoly with a one year old climbing on my lap, fussing and crying trying to get the cards and money, folding the twelve blankets from the "cave" or the "secret hideout"....

It's all time well spent. So don't be made when there isn't much time left....I'm going to try not to be mad either.

My three year old convinced me to build a sandcastle out of snow. That's better than anything I could've come up with had I made her take a nap. I hope that she remembers our sandcastle we built together, I hope she remembers all the times I got it right vs. those times when I forgot how much time my kids need, when I got impatient, or felt bitter, annoyed, or acted like a big fat grump! 

Time. How will you spend yours?

Yup....ah, that's where my heart is.....right there with that little person.....with all of my littles!