Before I became a mother, I always
heard things like “being a mother is not about you”, “you must
always put your children first”, “motherhood is about always
sacrificing your needs and wants”, “you must always pour into the
lives of your children-not yours”, and “your children are the
most important people in your life”.
I disagree with all of these
statements. There, I said it. Call me a bad mother if you want to
but at least hear me out. I realize that motherhood is full of
sacrifices and you have to put your children first in most instances
and I'm definitely not endorsing the “have a child and drop it with
the nanny 24/7” lifestyle. Not by any means. But if you are
always putting your children first and only pouring into their lives
(not yours or your husband's) what could you be possibly giving them?
You can't pour out from an empty jug (unless you're the widow that
God miraculously kept supplying with oil)! Let's look at a few of
these statements:
“you must always put your children
first”
I think we can safely blame this
statement on so many problems that plague families-inside and outside
the Church. Obviously, there are divorces and unfulfilled marriages
that are caused by other reasons but let's think about this. If you
are always putting your children first-what is happening to your
spiritual life or to your marriage? It's really hard to have a
God-centered marriage when you don't feed your relationship with God
or your relationship with your husband.
And let's not get crazy, I'm not
talking about the immediate needs of children. Obviously if a child
is sick or if an infant needs to be fed, in that moment, that child's
need takes priority over other things. But you can not constantly
put your children first-all the time-and expect your spiritual life
to flourish and your marriage to thrive.
Plus, if we are always putting our
children first, aren't we just raising a generation of narcissistic,
impatient children?
“motherhood is about always
sacrificing your needs and wants”
I think this is one of the biggest
traps of motherhood. Mothers want the best for their children. They
want to give them everything they didn't have. They want their
children's lives to be better than theirs. There is nothing wrong
with these desires. But because of these desires mothers very often
deprive themselves thinking that they are actually giving more to
their children. But again, you can't give what you don't have.
Let's face it, motherhood is hard, tiring, and draining. It's a job
that requires time-off but so often, women think they are hurting
their children if they take alone time.
This one has never been a problem for
me. I am a person that needs alone time. Other people recharge by
spending time with friends, and I do sometimes, but mainly I recharge
by being alone. Being alone allows me to gather my thoughts and
regroup. When I don't get my alone time things are not pretty!!
Constant questions and incessant talking exhausts me and as you know,
children are full of questions and talking! This alone time allows
me to be in blissful silence so I can come back to my children
recharged and ready to spend quality time with them. For me quality
time is more important that quantity time. Who cares if I have spent
every waking moment with my children when for ¾ of that time I spent
frustrated. Which will they appreciate more: lots of time with lots
of frustration or less time with more fun? How do you like to spend
your alone time?
“your children are the most
important people in your life”
Another big trap of motherhood. And
another ideology that I believe harms marriages. The way I
understand my priorities (and I get this from reading the Bible) is
in the following order: God, Husband, Children, Ministry. It's so
easy to get these things out of whack, especially if you have small
children or troubled older children. And there will be seasons where
you spend more time and energy on your children than you will your
husband-but these should be “seasons” not “long periods of
time”. Children thrive best in homes with strong, stable, parents
that are crazy about each other. It's hard to have a strong, stable,
loving marriage if you are always neglecting your husband for your
children. You are not neglecting the children if you take romantic
weekends, weekly date nights, nightly walks with your husband. You
are actually blessing your children by loving their father so well!
You are giving the children a sense of stability-so that they never
have to worry that their parents will get divorced. Divorce reeks
havoc on kids. It's easy to expect a child to just “get over it”
but that is not a realistic expectation. It's unrealistic because
it's not God's way. God's way is for a child to be nurtured by their
mother and father in the same family unit. This is not to say that
if divorce happens that a child can't overcome the hurt, by it's
unfair to ask it of them.
I am not suggesting that we stop
spending time with our children and move to some remote island and
sip fruity drinks all day but I am suggesting that we stop believing
some of the most common traps of motherhood. Motherhood is a
ministry. You can not run a successful ministry without checking in
with your ministry leader-God-on a daily basis. You can not pour
into your children's lives if you are empty. You need to fill
yourself with the things of God, you need to spend some time
recharging your tank so you can come back to your children renewed
and refreshed. Trust me, your family will be better for it!
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