I've been doing a lot of studying this week which has led me to realize a few things:
#1. I miss school and want to go back someday. (Four plus years of college and all I have to show for it is a lot of student loans.)
#2. I would be a terrible student seeing as how Evelyn + sitting still + reading = ZZZZZZZZ
#3. I've gotten really dumb over the last ten years. (And I used to be kind of smart. Dangit.)
#4. I really need to do this more often.
I also realize there is a time and season for everything. Right now I am in the season of young(ish) motherhood. I am busy raising these four little ones; changing diapers, helping with homework, supervising vigilantly, struggling to create control out of chaos, shuffling non-stop around a semi-clean house, bleary-eyed and plastered in mystery stains. But one day...one day I will get my chance to get my homework on again. And then I'll complain about how hard life is then and how I long for these "simpler" days now. Ha!
While my studies have been of a more personal and spiritual nature, I did want to share this one gem that I found while "studying" Facebook.
"Be strong enough to be gentle. Too many parents equate being gentle with being weak or passive when nothing could be further from the truth. Gentleness requires great control, active connection, and intense calm. So, when your child needs discipline, remember that an iron grip isn’t the only way to go. You can accomplish great things by being the calm voice of authority and reason in your home." ~Hal Runkel
Good one, huh?
At this rate, I have a feeling that I'll have motherhood figured out the day Cee walks out the door to go to college.
Hey! Maybe we'll go to college together! That is...if I can stay awake.
I came to the same realization recently, that I missed school and in particular learning about something that didn't have to do with childcare or homemaking. I recently started listening to this podcast called Hardcore History and realized that I've always really liked history as a subject. I got most interested in early American history so I went to the library (by myself) one day and just browsed their colonial history section. I found a couple of promising books and took them home. I've been reading one and it's awakened this fire for knowledge in me again. It helps that I have an ancestor that came over on the Mayflower so I love reading about him and his family. It's still taking me an eternity to read the book but I also still listen to that podcast when I workout and I'm loving this learning that I'm sneaking in. It actually helps me think more about all the other things I'm in charge of too. Go for it! You don't have to enroll in traditional college to go back to school!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about school the other day too. Then I think about how I am going to get 2 kids to games at the same time in different towns & I know that as a single-ish mama most of the time, it just isn't the right time for me either. Le Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI long to go back to school, too, but since I can't even get through a book that I want to read, I worry that I wont be able to. :) I hope you can, though.
ReplyDeleteThat quote on being gentle is very good! I think it is a delicate balance to find. Still working on it, too.