I just want them to be happy

                                                " I just want them to be happy."

Every parent's ultimate dream is for their children to be happy. The problem is we can't. We can love them to the moon and back. We can provide a loving and nurturing home. We can cart them to every activity their heart desires. We can feed them the most nutritious meals and talk and laugh with them. But make them happy? That we cannot do.

Happiness is an inside job. The only person's happiness we have any control over is our own.

In my 18 years of parenting, this fact has always stumped me. Yet it has helped me to pay closer attention to my own sense of joy. The irony of it all is when I am happy from the inside out and when I am paying close attention to my joy meter my children seem to sense it and are thus more joyful themselves.

So any time I notice one of my children is in a slump, before I jump into the worry, I stop and pay attention to my own inner landscape. It is my joy that ultimately keeps my family on track.

Blessings,
Virginia

Looking to find more joy in yourself and with your children, I would be honored to help. virginiamccormack05@gmail.com.

Sacred Sundays

A house full of teens after a Saturday night dance.

A Mom in her bedroom wandering in and out to provide food and to  let them know I am here.

Staying awake and on alert because mine and others' most precious ones are on my watch.

Listening to all the fun.

Time doesn't matter.

Midnight cake baking.

After midnight cake eating.

Two a.m giggles

Three a.m. card games.

I hear it all.

Time has switched.

It is now four a.m. and the house is quiet.

I tiptoe around to find each fast asleep.

At last.

I am so blessed.

Amen

Perfect Mothers

What is your idea of a perfect mother?

Is it the impeccably dressed, cookie baking PTA mom? Is it the thriving six figure career momma? Is it the mom with the bleary eyes carrying an infant while dealing with her toddler's tantrum in the cereal aisle? Or could it be the mom who leaves  the dishes piled, the laundry unfolded and the kids in their pyjamas and calls the sitter for the much needed break?

 Is it one or all of the above?

There is a slew of articles, books and motivational speeches about moms taking good care of themselves and letting go of the idea of perfection. Yet the media still sets the rules of a good mother at oppressive and unattainable heights. We are constantly bombarded with with the one perfect snapshot of motherhood. Believing these snapshots are actually real, moms hide behind the mask of perfection.

Raising children is messy business.

However perfect mothers do exist.

Tomorrow I'll share my ten rules of perfect moms.

Blessings,
Virginia

Need some help seeing your own perfection. I would love to help. virginiamccormack05@gmail.com