Motherhood Monday: What If We Were Different?

Welcome to another Motherhood Monday! Motherhood is an incredible blessing. But it is also a huge challenge. Anyone that has experienced motherhood will tell you, there is an incredible shift in your very being when you become a mother. This is the day dedicated to all things "mommy" related. Check here each Monday for a new post. 

Today I want to talk about how to get things done when you have one or more young child at home. I often see pictures like this on Facebook and Pinterest... 

...and to be completely honest it makes me really sad. Modern motherhood is touted on social media as being this horrifically laborious task that is just always smacking us around with never ending problems.

Also, can I just say that I think when all of us sit around griping about how difficult motherhood is we are complaining about an incredible gift that we have been given (Psalm 127:3). I think we (as a society) have started this idea that complaining about how hard "life" can be is an acceptable thing because... honesty. It becomes this sort of race to the bottom of "my problems are harder than yours".  I would challenge Christian mothers to stop this. Instead of complaining about how hard life is under the guise of "honesty", lets be honest about what we can do differently to make it better. 

What I am talking about is the "Beckys" of the world that complain about being rushed in the morning but won't plan ahead at night. (Who right this instant are about to say that it is hard to plan at night... while they watch another episode of the Office that they have seen 102,291 times.) I am talking about the people complaining about their child's screen time when all they have to do is turn off the router. We are allowing ourselves to be distracted and unfocused, and it is making us feel pretty awful and I bet our families aren't feeling too hot either. 

Can I share a secret with you? It doesn't have to be that hard! 

Now, before I go any further, I need to be really clear here. 

I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION OR MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS. If you are experiencing postpartum depression or a mental health decline/crisis that is a whole different ball game. It is real, you are not crazy, and you need to seek medical help. 

Kids don't have to tear apart your house, in fact I would challenge that in almost all cases (baring physical/mental disability) children can in fact help you in your home!

This is the part where some would say, "what makes you an expert?!"

Well, let me tell you. 

I have three children under the age of four. My husband is active duty military and is often gone from our home leaving me to solo parent a 4 year old boy, an almost 3 year old boy, and a 1 year old girl. It would be incredibly easy for me to say, "This is hard!" and pop on a TV show. But God didn't call me to watch television. God called me to raise my children well, and I am trying my hardest to do exactly that. So my children take out the trash, feed the dog, help load and unload the dishwasher, sort and put away laundry, clean plates, and are generally helpful children. This is not because I am a perfect parent, but it is because I spend my time teaching my children to be productive members of society... not little tornadoes to be catered to.

With the picture at the top of the post? Put your kids at the kitchen table with books, play-dough, or coloring while you do the dishes. For my family? I have trained my children that as soon as a meal is over (and they are excused from the table) they take their dishes to the sink and then they get a book and sit in the living room until I am finished with the dishes. All three of my children are trained to do this, even the 12 month old. 

IT CAN BE DONE. 

Motherhood doesn't need to be this horrible, draining, thing to be mocked on social media. In a lot of ways, we are creating these problems and then lamenting the outcomes. 

Instead, what if we faced the challenge head on? 

What if instead of allowing our children to make life more difficult, what if we taught our children how to be productive members of the family? What if, instead of racing to the bottom in our conversations about our families, if we looked up to the Son and modeled what HE says family should be? What if we didn't let our families look like families of the world? What if we were different?