Changes of a Child

2012 has brought about so many changes. So much growth has occurred in my family, it is hard to sit and list everything out. Each night before bed, I sit and realize how big my children are getting. They are in need of their mother however they are maturing and becoming their own person. Each one of them discovering their own personalities and who they are. What it is that they like to do and what they don't like to eat.


They are beginning to make their own choices whereas I used to make these choices for them. As a mother this is a bittersweet moment. You see this growth as a success. You have done something correct. This person that was once small enough to hold with one hand is beginning to be too big to pick up. They are able to make their own decisions and tell you about the world that they have explored. Looking from the other side, you are saddened because you are no longer needed in the way that you were years earlier. You are their mother... and always will be... but not their primary decision makers anymore. They are now their own person!


You will always be their guide, but now you must allow them to grow. In my opinion, it is one of the hardest parts of motherhood. Allowing to let go, little by little and watching them grow up. Giving them guidance and hoping they will take your words of wisdom to heart. Allowing them to be the people they want to be, not the people that we see that they should be. Through all this we still, as mothers, always want only the best for our children and will strive for nothing less. It is our job to teach them to see the best in themselves so they will strive for the same. Ultimately, they want mom to be happy. We are happy when they are happy. It is a big circle.


Each night, when I slip in my children's bedroom when they are sleeping and kiss them goodnight, cover them up and tell them I love them, I know they hear me. Just like when they stand at the foot of my bed after having a bad dream, I awake to them being there. We will always be linked to our children, as old as they get. Children are a wonderful gift. Each day is different and each experience brings a different outcome but in the end when all the chaos of life is put aside, the day begins and ends with them!