MOM'S GOTTA FIND TIME TO PLAY

For any of you that read, I am sorry for the boring posts. Truth be told, I am using this as my journal and as such I want to put down how I felt and what was going on while raising my little kids. So, another question . . . . .

How can I as a Mom make sure my kids feel secure, loved and happy?

You'd think this was an easy answer, but I've thought about it. I am the typical mormon mom/wife . . . . trying to be supermom at everything and for everyone. Keep up with the house work, the laundry, the dishes, the pets, the kids, the church callings and do it all with a smile on my face. On a daily basis I do dishes several times, vacuum the main floor and the basement, clean 2 bathrooms, wash and fold clothes, make meals and the list goes on. Then I repeat and repeat day after day. (I love being a mom and remember my mission . . . I chose this job, and I truly do love it) But as I was thinking about this and just now making this list, where do my kids fit in. They either follow me around while I am cleaning and keeping house, or I follow them around with my chores. Fold laundry, iron shirts where ever they are. But how often am I actually PLAYING with them. You know being either the mom or the sister when they role play. Dancing around in the living room when they turn on the music on the piano. Building forts and coloring in coloring books. Well, sad to say not as often as I'd like.

Somehow I've gotten into the mode that my housework is really that important. It is, but is it more important than playing with my kids. My mom told me, now that her kids are all grown up, there is nothing too important that has to be done right now! There is always time to stop and take time with your kids.

I am slowy learning. So today Mason wanted to color. So like a good mom I got out the coloring book and the colors and left him to it. But then he asked me to sit down with him. So, I sat next to him and we colored, and before I knew it Sam was on the other side of the table coloring with us. Just as simple and as great as that. We just sat together for a bit and colored. Mason was laughing and playing, grabbing onto my neck, and letting me tickle him. It was a moment.

I noticed a little difference when I was with Mason, really with him and interacting with him. So after we put the colors away, I asked who wanted a horsey ride throughout the house? So I started at one end of he house, and Mason hopped on and I crawled on my hands and knees to the other end of the house. Then Sam had a turn on the way back. Something as simple as a horsey ride.

Usually the kids go and hide when they hear the garage open, that means Daddy is home. And I am usually going about one of my duties, but today . . . . we all went into Samantha's room and hid by her bed. We sat there and hid until Ben came and found us, and then we popped out and yelled "surprise!" A game that they usually play all by themselves, I played with them to show that that Mommy really is interested.

I think that is the answer to my question. It isn't that I am fun (even though Ben has told me that I need to be more fun, actually play with the kids), but that I am showing them I am interested in them, their games, what they are doing. I think my kids will feel secure when they know that I am there, really there. Not just there as the cleaning lady and the cook who sleeps in the other room, but there with them. Playing make believe, and giving them horsey rides. Granted it isn't always going to be fun and games, but when it is I should be apart of it. Hopefully that will make them feel all 3 . . . secure, loved and happy.

I think those are some pretty important things for a 5 and 3 year old to feel in a family. They want to know that they have a place in their family and that Mommy and Daddy are going to always be there and love them.

So more often than not, I will be right there playing with my kids. My house might suffer, my laundry might be built up for a few days but those things will survive. My kids will hopefully be happier, and in turn Ben and I will be alot happier also!