“Is It Fun Being a Mommy?”
By DeAnna Sanders
I didn’t know Rachel was paying close attention to me one ordinary evening. I did know that nothing slipped past my bright, inquisitive second-grade daughter. Like all mothers, I bragged about my child’s brilliance, but once again I was caught off-guard by her insight into adult behavior.
From the time Rachel arrived home from school that particular Tuesday afternoon until after our family dinner, she observed me prepare a snack for her and her little brother, help her with her homework, cook dinner, wash dishes, and sweep and mop the floor. Then I prepared to begin the daily laundry routine. When her dad walked in the door from his day’s work, she observed him leisurely reading the evening newspaper, working on a crossword puzzle, stretching out in the recliner, watching television, eating dinner and retreating to the backyard to play catch with her brother.
“Ummm,” Rachel wondered what was wrong with this picture. In her mind, the score wasn’t quite even. She decided this issue demanded immediate resolution. As I checked a load of clothes in the dryer, Rachel approached me with a puzzled look.
“Mom, is it hard being a mommy?”
“No, dear,” I moaned as I trotted to the bedroom with a load of hot sheets and towels to fold. “I love being a mommy.”
“You do?” she asked in amazement.
“Yes, I do, sweetheart,” I moaned again, as I gathered up a pile of grimy play clothes to start yet another washer load.
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, to me, it looks like mommies get all the hard work and daddies get all the fun.”
“This is what stay-at-home moms do. It’s part of my work. You didn’t see Dad working hard all day at his office. Now it’s time for him to relax and have fun with his family.”
“Oh, okay,” Rachel conceded. “So, when is it your turn to have fun?”
Good question. I wondered if I had a good answer. Before I replied, my son called for Rachel to come outside and play ball. As I folded and stacked towels, it occurred to me that as Rachel observed me that evening, she didn’t see a contented homemaker, happy to stay home and care for her family by maintaining an orderly home. What my daughter watched was a madwoman frantically rushing about the kitchen throwing hamburger meat into the microwave. She witnessed an impatient woman who thought the story in the second-grade reader would never end. She saw a weary woman who seemed to prefer scrubbing sticky pots and pans to playing baseball in the backyard.
This wasn’t the picture of motherhood my daughter needed to model. She deserved better. (I deserved better, too!) She needed not a picture of perfection, but one of joy and contentment in a mother doing the same old household chores again, and again and again.
In her daddy, Rachel noticed a man who took time out for himself and his family. It was my turn to try that approach to life as well. I decided immediately that the laundry could wait to be folded. I joined my half-pint ball team by the swing set. My relaxed, new and improved outlook on life paid immediate results. My family watched in amazement as my home-run baseball cleared the backyard fence.
when we first saw you! We are very thankful to the Lord for blessing us with such wonderful gift. We pray that you will grow up to be as smart, humble, family-oriented and strong-willed as mommy taweng and as witty, adventurous, sports-minded and patient as daddy rudney. May the Lord bless you with as much graces, protect you from all negative things and guide you as you become a fully grown man. We promise to do everything that we can in providing you all that you will ever need. We love you very very much!!!
