Have you seen that commercial?
19 Jul 2012 Leave a Comment
in family, homeschooling
I think it’s for laundry soap, but I’m not sure because I was crying at the end of it. It shows a Mom doing laundry and dishes and waking her daughter up for an early morning drive to the gym for gymnastics practice; then night and laundry and dishes and driving and lunches and dishes and the girls is growing up. Then you see the daughter competing at the Olympics and she runs over to hug her Mom. I felt like the beginning of that commercial was my yesterday.
Run to NIA class, do a bit of school, drive to the park for park day, play with the kids, have lunch, clean up, drive to the teacher supply store, come home, make dinner, do 3 more loads of laundry and put them up (even though I did 3 loads yesterday..)
A never ending supply of stuff is on my plate every day, plus the teaching stuff, co-op stuff, field trip stuff, volunteer stuff, fun stuff, not-so-fun stuff, etc.
I sometimes feel like that haggard Mom in the commercial, but I know that this is a season and there is a goal.
I already watched one child reach the goal of graduation this past December and it was good.
I watched him reach the goal of private pilot this May and it was good. But, for a long time there were no goals reached and that’s where it gets hard. Waiting as the younger kids get older and start reaching those goals, so that we can see that we have attained something for all of the days of laundry and dishes and driving and teaching. For some children goals like reading or driving or even doing long division may never come, but there are always things to look for and set as goals – they are just different for every child.
So, for all the Moms out there who are driving to soccer or dance or piano or art, making lunches and dinner and cleaning up after that, doing laundry, mopping, sweeping and maybe even teaching their kids at home – it’s worth it. Every crumb you sweep up will remind you of the raucous kids who were using lunchtime for art….by making their bread into masks or playing….with cheese.
Every shirt you wash is an opportunity to pray over the child that it belongs to, to think of them and remember who they are and think of who they might become.
Don’t think that all of the little things you do, even those that are silly, don’t make a difference.
You might not see instant appreciation or gratification, but everything you do is woven into the being of that child and in the end – it is worth it. So, Moms, go do what you always do today, but do it with a purpose and a smile, for you know how it all turns out in the end.
