I'm excited to be over at For The Family this week. 

I used to daydream about all the wonderful things I would do with and for my future children. I was going to make my own baby food and spend hours snuggling. I was going to patiently help with school work and play board games, dolls, and tea-party. I was going to teach my junior highers how to cook, have an amazing chore system, and have many late night chats with my teenagers. In their early adult years our relationship would move from a solely mother figure to that of also being a good friend. I was going to be an awesome mom!

But life doesn’t always work like it does in my dreams. I did not make my own baby food, I learned that I dislike playing dolls, that board games with kids can be a real test in patience, and that tea-parties gross me out because there is always dirt and fuzz swimming in my little tea cup. We are just now entering the teenage years and I am not sure what lies ahead for us here, but I do know it is easy to get confused about what a good mom really is.

Over the years I have learned the importance of spending time and playing with my children and that I should  prayerfully consider decisions about schooling, extracurricular activities, friends, foods, and immunizations. But they are not the most important decisions we make as a mom and certainly do not dictate whether or not we are a good mom.

Here are some things we need to keep in mind as mothers.

She protects

As a mother we have a natural desire to protect our children. We would be willing to kill if someone tried to kidnap our kids wouldn’t we? But do we protect our children from ourselves?

We harm our kids by yelling, belittling, talking about them to others and disciplining in anger. It is not only damaging to our relationship with them but also to their little souls.

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