Intentional Motherhood
Sometimes being a mom feels like an epic game of "what will keep my kid's attention long enough that I can accomplish this task". Am I right?! It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking of our kids as a distraction from what we really need to do and get done, or even what we want to do to relax. It's also easy to just coast through the day with our list of errands to accomplish and by the end of the day we put the kids to bed and collapse into bed ourselves, wondering what ever happened to our day and kicking ourselves for not listening a little more closely when our little one had something to tell us, rather than brushing it off with a simple "uh-huh".
As I stepped into my first summer off with a little one, the Lord impressed on my mind the importance of taking advantage of this time with him and not wasting those precious moments that would soon fade as the school year starts again. So, I made some plans for my summer and the word I adopted to describe my summer with Miles is "intentional". I didn't want to look back at the end of summer and wonder what I had done with it. That would be a terrible loss, in my book. Instead, I wanted to be able to look back and recognize the fun, meaningful, lasting things we did together, and as a family. So here were some of the things I purposefully did this summer to make it an intentional time with my little guy.
- We enrolled in a Baby and Me story time at the local library. Miles absolutely loved this and usually giggled the whole way through!
- I purchased a baby bike seat (second hand) and we went on bike rides together. Miles loves the outdoors and loved a good ride on the bike. Sometimes we would sing or we would talk about the things we saw around us. Often Miles would just chatter away and I would listen and smile.
- I purposefully read his Bible storybook to him often. He doesn't always like to sit still long enough to read a whole story, but I took advantage of the time we had.
- We purposefully kept the TV off most of the time it was just the two of us. I would rather watch him play and interact with me and his toys than spend his time in front of the TV.
- We went for lots of runs and walks together with him in his Joovy stroller.
-We explored some new parks! We went to French Creek Reservation and did a trail run (2x), daddy took us on a bike ride at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, we ran multiple times on the Northcoast Inland Trail.
- We went on a couple road trips to the cottage and to Indiana. Miles is a great little traveler and though he occasionally gets a little restless on longer car rides, he does well and typically sleeps much of the way.
- We are planning one final summer trip to Columbus for a weekend, then a week at the cottage before back to school!
- We visited the Elkhart County 4-H Fair, where Miles loved looking at all the animals and watching some shows with his grandpa and grandma. He will also get to experience the Lorain County Fair later this summer and watch his cousins show their ponies!
- We planned an exciting trip to Build-A-Bear with his cousin, Magnolia, but when that was a huge disappointment we all went swimming at grammy and papa's instead! Even our fails can be redeemed! :)
- We listened to our favorite Pandora station, Jon Guerra radio, almost every day!
- We had picnics with family and played outside.
This is just a sampling of what we did this summer, but they were each intentional plans that were made with Miles in mind. One of the biggest things I tried to be very conscious of, was not being too worried about the tasks I wanted to accomplish that day until he was down for a nap, or asleep for the night. That didn't always happen, but I don't ever want to think of my kids as distractions from my tasks. Tasks aren't people, and people are always more important.
I hope you got some good ideas and it sparked some thoughts about how you can be an intentional mom, even when things are busy and stressful. This season, admittedly, feels tiring and long sometimes, but we have been blessed with the responsibility of caring for and raising these precious little ones, so let's do it well. It won't be perfect, but it can be intentional.
As I stepped into my first summer off with a little one, the Lord impressed on my mind the importance of taking advantage of this time with him and not wasting those precious moments that would soon fade as the school year starts again. So, I made some plans for my summer and the word I adopted to describe my summer with Miles is "intentional". I didn't want to look back at the end of summer and wonder what I had done with it. That would be a terrible loss, in my book. Instead, I wanted to be able to look back and recognize the fun, meaningful, lasting things we did together, and as a family. So here were some of the things I purposefully did this summer to make it an intentional time with my little guy.
- We enrolled in a Baby and Me story time at the local library. Miles absolutely loved this and usually giggled the whole way through!
- I purchased a baby bike seat (second hand) and we went on bike rides together. Miles loves the outdoors and loved a good ride on the bike. Sometimes we would sing or we would talk about the things we saw around us. Often Miles would just chatter away and I would listen and smile.
- I purposefully read his Bible storybook to him often. He doesn't always like to sit still long enough to read a whole story, but I took advantage of the time we had.
- We purposefully kept the TV off most of the time it was just the two of us. I would rather watch him play and interact with me and his toys than spend his time in front of the TV.
- We went for lots of runs and walks together with him in his Joovy stroller.
-We explored some new parks! We went to French Creek Reservation and did a trail run (2x), daddy took us on a bike ride at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, we ran multiple times on the Northcoast Inland Trail.
- We went on a couple road trips to the cottage and to Indiana. Miles is a great little traveler and though he occasionally gets a little restless on longer car rides, he does well and typically sleeps much of the way.
- We are planning one final summer trip to Columbus for a weekend, then a week at the cottage before back to school!
- We visited the Elkhart County 4-H Fair, where Miles loved looking at all the animals and watching some shows with his grandpa and grandma. He will also get to experience the Lorain County Fair later this summer and watch his cousins show their ponies!
- We planned an exciting trip to Build-A-Bear with his cousin, Magnolia, but when that was a huge disappointment we all went swimming at grammy and papa's instead! Even our fails can be redeemed! :)
- We listened to our favorite Pandora station, Jon Guerra radio, almost every day!
- We had picnics with family and played outside.
This is just a sampling of what we did this summer, but they were each intentional plans that were made with Miles in mind. One of the biggest things I tried to be very conscious of, was not being too worried about the tasks I wanted to accomplish that day until he was down for a nap, or asleep for the night. That didn't always happen, but I don't ever want to think of my kids as distractions from my tasks. Tasks aren't people, and people are always more important.
I hope you got some good ideas and it sparked some thoughts about how you can be an intentional mom, even when things are busy and stressful. This season, admittedly, feels tiring and long sometimes, but we have been blessed with the responsibility of caring for and raising these precious little ones, so let's do it well. It won't be perfect, but it can be intentional.
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