When our children were small we had one main babysitter. She became like a big sister to our children. When she married, two of our girls stood up in her wedding. Now she has four small children (five and under)of her own. Their sweet family visited this past weekend.
Over the past six months, she has been struggling. There was her husband’s unemployeement, moving, her photography business, health issues and four children to deal with. Frustration like she had not known before was haunting her mothering. The children seemed to be getting worse instead of better. What was wrong? In the midst of the turmoil she was losing motivation; tiredness, irritability and unproductiveness were reigning.
Several people were praying for her and a couple of weeks ago God opened her eyes to an answer. Routine; God reminded her of the need for routine. Although her feelings were leading her otherwise she started having her children follow a daily schedule. As she implemented morning chores, Bible time, blanket time, table time, room time, nap time and play time….peacefulness returned.
Fighting between the children lessened as they had direction for their energies. Days became productive again as the free for all was replaced with order. Although this mom would not claim to be energized (perhaps something to do with her staying up to midnight and rising at 6 a.m.) she did say she is no longer dragging. Along with a smile returning to her face, she is accomplishing those beyond mothering responsibilities too!
Our ex-babysitter wrapped it up with these words, “Although I did not like where I was at, the one thing that helped was what seemed impossible. While my feelings told me to let the children do what they wanted so I could focus on other important things; just the opposite happened. The less I led the children the crazier life got. Without routine nothing was accomplished. At the end of the day the house was a mess and we were all emotionally exhausted. With routine we are enjoying each other more and look back on the day with delight, not regret.”
Over the past six months, she has been struggling. There was her husband’s unemployeement, moving, her photography business, health issues and four children to deal with. Frustration like she had not known before was haunting her mothering. The children seemed to be getting worse instead of better. What was wrong? In the midst of the turmoil she was losing motivation; tiredness, irritability and unproductiveness were reigning.
Several people were praying for her and a couple of weeks ago God opened her eyes to an answer. Routine; God reminded her of the need for routine. Although her feelings were leading her otherwise she started having her children follow a daily schedule. As she implemented morning chores, Bible time, blanket time, table time, room time, nap time and play time….peacefulness returned.
Fighting between the children lessened as they had direction for their energies. Days became productive again as the free for all was replaced with order. Although this mom would not claim to be energized (perhaps something to do with her staying up to midnight and rising at 6 a.m.) she did say she is no longer dragging. Along with a smile returning to her face, she is accomplishing those beyond mothering responsibilities too!
Our ex-babysitter wrapped it up with these words, “Although I did not like where I was at, the one thing that helped was what seemed impossible. While my feelings told me to let the children do what they wanted so I could focus on other important things; just the opposite happened. The less I led the children the crazier life got. Without routine nothing was accomplished. At the end of the day the house was a mess and we were all emotionally exhausted. With routine we are enjoying each other more and look back on the day with delight, not regret.”
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