The Truest Joys of Motherhood

Many of us have battled the challenges that come with motherhood, but what about the joys? Sometimes I find myself forgetting how amazing of a gift I’ve been given when elbows deep in diapers, debates, and fart jokes (I have boys). However, when I step back to truly evaluate momming, there really is no greater legacy we get to leave or benefit we get to experience than holding the title of mom.

Feeling all the emotions
We get to walk our children through every emotion. Love, sadness, anger, excitement, curiosity—you name it, we watch our children feel it. As bystanders, we experience two sides of the motherhood spectrum as we see our children experience emotions, bursting happiness and absolute heartbreak.

Teaching many lessons
Whether we know it or not, we continuously teach our children lessons based on how we go about our everyday lives. It’s not about teaching from a book; sometimes it’s just as simple as them watching how we treat them, our spouses, the waitress at a restaurant, the person in line at Target, and ourselves. They are always watching and learning based on our example.

Sharing the little moments
Talk to any mom who gets their child to go potty on the potty for the first time, and you’ll see excitement and celebration unmatched by even the greatest of parties. Imagine watching your child master an instrument, score their first goal, and take their first steps. You get to share in their little big moments.

Digging into our imagination
Nothing can be more exhausting than playing make-believe with your toddler because they are so darn good at it. As adults, we need to dig back into our creative brains, learn from our children, and allow our imaginations to blossom… even if your child tells you, “Mom, you’re doing it wrong.” Nothing will humble you more than motherhood.

Watching continuous entertainment
Kids were born to be the center of attention and they are good at it. Whether dressing up and role-playing a tea party, putting on the hottest concert of the year with a plastic guitar and a hairbrush microphone, or just experiencing their funny personalities as they grow, children are sheer entertainment even when they aren’t trying.

Experiencing the innocence of childhood
Look in a child’s eyes when they learn something new or see something they’ve never seen before. That awe is incredible, and you get to watch it constantly as your children grow. Allow yourself to truly take that in and remind yourself that innocence is so wonderful.

Making us better people
We all go through an identity shift when we have children. It’s normal and sometimes confusing, but we change and grow. I’ve found that having kids makes me better. Every day isn’t butterflies and rainbows, but children make us better people because they force us to stretch ourselves to the highest level of person we can be.

And that’s really what parenting is all about.