I was never one of those little girls who played house and pretended I had birthed 9 children and cooked 3 square meals daily while cleaning the house simultaneously. I always imagined myself as someone working outside the home. I never planned on getting pregnant within my first 2 years of marriage and being a stay at home mom. I never envisioned myself as the gal wearing an apron cooking pizza from scratch and making banana bread on the side. Who woulda thought?
As a young girl I never sat and gushed over bridal magazines, baby books, or mommy-ish ideals. I did always hope I'd get married and wanted children of my own and children to adopt. That's about all I had planned. Anything mommy/housewife related was just a bit fuzzy in my mind. I guess I figured it would all fall in to place somehow.
And it has. I never thought I would love slaving away over laundry and letting my daughter help me "cook" dinner at the counter while we discuss our day's events.I never really thought through discipline tactics. I just assumed my children would be angels automatically. (But of course, aren't all single, childless young people absolutely brilliant child-raising experts?) But maybe that's what makes it all even better, because I never expected how amazingly different, and yet wonderful, life would turn out.
A few books that I've read or am reading are such a wonderful source of encouragement and inspiration in this mommy journey of mine. If you haven't read them, I highly highly highly SUPER highly recommend them. I know, I know. Us mommy's ain't got much time for readin', but let me tell you, these books are WORTH the time you put into them. Even if you are single, or you have no children yet, there is a lot of wisdom to be learned in these books... especially if you ever hope to be a mommy :) Here they are, in no particular order:
- Sheperding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp
- The Strong-Willed child by Doctor Dobson
- The New Dare to Discipline by Doctor James Dobson
- To all mommies everywhere. May we be granted the wisdom to guide us, the love to inspire us, and the grace to make it through each day.
- P.S. I totally just made up that heart-warming blessing myself. Pretty awesome, I know ;)
I really liked this post Casey! As much as I love kids I was never that girl who only dreamed about being a mom. It is encouraging to hear how much you have enjoyed being a mommy. Keep up the good work! Love your blog! :)
ReplyDeleteI have all those books. =) I do think it is VERY important for mothers to stay away from mainstream parenting self-help books and magazines. They are SO bad. Mainly because they appeal to everyone and so if you take their advice, your parenting will be completely inconsistent. Those 3 books you mentioned are great, but with any book, a parent needs to read it with an open mind, then think about what works for their family, ya know?
ReplyDeleteMy parents bought "The Strong-Willed Child" for me! Sigh...and look how I turned out... ;)
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