Back when my now 17 year old Gustav
was a baby, I started going to a mom’s group at our church. We moms spanned a
wide range of backgrounds: educational, economic, even religious. Our director
picked a mothering book to read and we took turns presenting a chapter each
week. We discussed the ideas presented and then gently widened the discussion.
It was a wonderful circle of women and though I loved them all dearly, I
enjoyed leaving them all to that distinct group. They did not become my dear
friends or movie companions. They were my mom’s group.
Part of that experience was a yearly retreat.
One of the woman offered her lovely house on Pewaukee lake for a whole Saturday
sometime during the Easter season. It was always a huge pain in the backside to
arrange a whole day away from my kids and family but, as you would expect, I
was always so glad I did it. It was a wonderful experience to spend one day
reflecting on the question, “Why am I doing this?!”
During one of the retreats, one of
the young moms confessed .With heart wrenching sobs she told us all how she
could not get her two year old to take a nap! How no one in the world had ever
talked to her like her two year old was talking to her! How she could not
believe the things that were coming out of her own mouth. And this she
whispered, how she could not believe she was being brought to her knees by her
very own child! Those moms who had gone through” the dark night of the soul”
themselves, rushed to her side, expressing
warmth and comfort. Those who had not, sat in silent witness.
We talk a lot about child
development at Lifeways, but I often wondered as a young mom, who was really
growing up? Thankfully, I had the loving support of my mom and my sister and
good friends helping me grow up but the painful process of becoming a parent
did not end when the doctor put Jennifer in my arms for the first time. My
parenting birth has been a lifelong ordeal. There has been a lot of labor.
There has been a lot of false labor, those moments that I thought were hard
only to find out later that they had been nothing compared to the REAL thing.
It is the kind of labor that is not gender specific, either. Peter and I did a lot of growing up together.
Do you suppose it is possible that
if parent development were actually studied there might be specific stages not
unlike the stages of grief? Confusion: Oh my God, we are going to have a
baby! Or Questioning: Who in the name of
heaven thought that this was a good idea to let me be a parent? Or Denial: This
trait did not come from my side of the family. This must be a Sustar thing!
Acceptance? I am doing the best that I can do. I am just going to love this
child like crazy. Or would acceptance come at the moment when you realize, Wow,
this child of mine doesn’t need a parent any more. He/she wants to be friends.
I am sure developmentally that should come when the child is around the age of
twenty five, not around the age of two. Anger? Sadness? Despair?
I can’t believe I am being brought to my knees by a two year old! I love
how Kim John Payne describes those moments as moments of “soul fever”. Times to
pull back a little and take care. Times of great growth. A mom in my suite went
through this recently, reaching out to me and other moms looking for advice and
then she pulled back a little with her daughter and in doing so was renewed and
refreshed. She is a great mom.
Parenting is a mystery. Despite all the
parenting how to books and all the good advice and all the methodologies there
is not one recipe for child rearing that is foolproof. Even within a family,
what works for one child is a total bust for another. Now having said that, I witness
every day how children thrive in an atmosphere of simplicity, a strong rhythm,
plenty of outdoor time, good healthy food, and daily rest. Did I know that with
Jennifer, my oldest? NO! I couldn’t wait to show her everything the world had
to offer. Peter and I took her everywhere with us. Did I know that by the time
Irene, my third, came along? You could have told time by our rhythm, which is
not, of course, really rhythm. It is schedule. But as a parent, myself, I found
these four things a good solid foundation to work with in. If there is a
struggle happening within you or your family, they are a good place to start.
Make them your own.
Perhaps the most valuable thing I
have learned in all these years as a parent is how to laugh.
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