As some of you might know, I am one of 8 children. No twins or triplets, and yes all from the same two parents! And no not catholic! (inevitably, these questions always follow! lol!) I can not imagine what raising 8 kids is like. In my (almost) year spent raising my son, I can vouch that being a parent is NOT always easy! You are constantly questioning yourself: am I doing the right thing? Is this healthy? Will this benefit my child? Should I let them eat/try/watch/listen to/do this? And my own most commonly self-asked question, "what would my mom do?!" Luckily, I still have my mom around and I can call her up and ask her as much ;) I feel truly blessed that this is the case, my heart goes out to those of you who don't get to celebrate Mother's day with your mom. Growing up my mom did some special things for us/traditions that I can't wait to carry on with my kids. I thought some of you might enjoy trying some of these things too. These are the ones that comprise some of my most special childhood memories and in my humble opinion, make my mom the world's best ;)
- Beach Bags- One of my most favorite childhood memories was the two weeks my family spent in Sanibel, Florida every summer growing up. We would all pile into our ginormous van and make the 24+ hours long haul drive down to Sanibel. My mom deserves sainthood for driving that far in any type of enclosed space with 8 crazy kids!!! Luckily, we always had a video player in our van and that, I'm sure, helped saved everyone's sanity. Our favorite movie was "tiny toons how I spent my summer vacation" and we ALL knew every word to that movie by heart, even my dad who drove the whole way! When we would get to Florida and all unpile into the condo, my mom at some point would call us out to the porch and give us our "beach bags". The bags were in some kind of fun tote and would contain all our beach necessities! Maybe a new pair of sunglasses, flip flops, water wings for the babies, water guns for the boys, rafts for the ocean, dive sticks for the pool, or shovels and backets for beach days! It was such a special treat that we all looked forward to and seeing what my mom picked out for each of us. It was stuff that you might just buy and pack (the necessities) but she did it in such a fun way that gave us something to look forward to the entire drive down!
- Chore log- I was just remembering this the other day. My mom would keep a "chore log" a notebook laying out on her desk in the kitchen, and as you did something to help out around the house, unload the dishwasher, give the younger kids a bath, help set the table- you could record it in the chore log. At the end of the month she would tally it up and pay us in points, you could redeem for cash or for "treats" such as ice cream, a coke, or something along those lines. This was a fun way to get us to enjoy helping out around the house and help teach about working to earn what you want.
- After school snacks- It didn't happen every day, but sometimes when we would get home from school there would be a special afternoon snack waiting when we got off the school bus! Ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins on top) and the apple smile (two slices of apple, peanut butter on each side holding marshmallows between the apple) were two of my favorites! It was such a fun surprise to come home to food waiting on us!
- Lunch bag surprises- My mom usually packed our lunches for school. She would write us a note on our napkin every day, and usually put a sticker on the note :) Once in a while, she would also wrap up a little present in our napkin, a special piece of jewelry we wanted, some nail polish, a fun pencil. Her notes always made me feel loved and thought of during the school day and even into highschool I saved them all in a pile in my locker ;)
- Bike rides into town- I think most parents with more than one child have to make an effort to make sure to give individual attention to each of their children, my parents had EIGHT to divide their time and attention between. I remember during the summer my mom would come to my room and whisper "want to go for a bike ride?" she would take each of us one at a time on a bike ride, early in the morning into town for breakfast. There aren't words to describe how much I loved this! Special time, alone with my mom. I still remember her doing this when I was too small to ride my own bike, and I would ride in a little seat attached to her bike. (I guess before the days of bike trailers!) Carving time out for one-on-one time with your kids is so important no matter how many you have!
- Gardening- This is not something she so much did specifically for us, but growing up I was always SO impressed with how beautiful all the flowers my mom planted were! I think my mom is amazing because she was able to take care of 8 kids, keep a house running, and somehow found time to grow beautiful plants and flowers. And when we picked the flowers she labored over to plant to bring them as a gift to her, she only scolded us when we happened to pick the neighbors accidentally ;)
- Playing hooky- I can remember a very few times (and I hope she doesn't get mad at me for publicizing this! HA!) when I really just didn't want to go to school..... she would ask "well do you feel bad?" and an after a half hearted "uh-huh" she let me stay home and did something special with me. Such as going to the park, or I remember one time her taking me to a book store and pick out a few new books. Now, I am not trying to condone delinquency, however, my mom (I'm assuming here) understood that in the grand scheme of things, a day out of school wasn't (obviously) going to keep us from achieving college degrees. Incidentally, she was building special moments of bonding that will last a lifetime.
- Encouragment- My mom always encouraged ALL of us to pursue the things that we were interested in. Whether that was driving us all over the state for gymnastic meets, driving to art classes, sitting in the stands at basketball or softball games, she was always there cheering us on. I don't recall her ever once discouraging any of us from trying something new. She believed in us, which leads to kids to likewise, believing in themselves.
- Summer reading log- She encouraged my reading by letting me do a "book log" similar to the chore log, except that I would read an assigned book, and then write a summary of the book and she would pay me a dollar or two per book I read. Let's just say I was quite the book worm during the summer! Moral of that story, a little bribery goes a long way at times, and if it causes a positive outcome ( I still love reading ) - all the better!
- Church- My parents always took us to church and read us Bible stories before bed at night. They taught us to memorize Bible verses and made fun competitions out of memorizing the verses. They taught us to hide God's word in our hearts. Though I haven't always been the "best" Christian, my parents gave me a firm foundation on which to build my faith and I am so thankful to them for this. "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" -Proverbs 22:6
Mom, I love you!!! I thank you for everything you taught me about how to be a mother.
I hope you have a wonderful mother's day!!!
