Our youngest child started school this week.
It comes almost exactly 10 years after I finished my 3rd year Bible College exams 20 weeks pregnant with our first child. Therefore I have been home as a mum with young kids for a decade. That’s a long time. It’s also the end of an era.
No more babies or pre-schoolers.
No more naps or nappies.
No more kindy (pre-school) run.
No more little people to take grocery shopping.
No-one to chat to during the day.
No helper as I clean.
Just one pick-up and drop-off each day.
I have found it an absolute privilege and (mostly) a joy to be a stay-at-home mum over the last 10 years. I wouldn’t have done it any other way and I know I will look back over these years with thanks for the freedom and ability to be at home.
However, all good things come to an end, and as far as I am concerned, often move on to better things! My overwhelming thought on Monday (when she started school) was:
It’s the first day of the rest of my life!
2 comments:
Bah! Made me cry...
I struggle to think about this stage positively all the time. Sally started school this year, and Annika will go to preschool 5 days a fortnight next year, and I'm already looking forward to Jed's big long day sleeps next year as MY TIME!
And yet, it is racing by (the girls are so big, and surely Jed can't be 7 months already), so why can't I take joy in it more than I do? I know it's a privilege, and I don't want to be in paid work at the moment, but it can be kind of constant too. I'm sometimes jealous of Tim's study - his own room that he can go in and shut the door. Bliss. :-)
My prayer for a while has been that I would delight in my children more, in who they are, and not who I (often unrealistically) wish they would be. I can relate to your looking-forwardness as this new stage, but I don't want mine to be tinged with regret.
Thanks for letting me work out my own issues in your comments, ha! See you in a few weeks...
Katrina
Oh sorry Katrina - I didn't want to make you cry!
I felt exactly the same as you for years, and still do - it's not as though all of a sudden I have lots of free 'me' time, it's just a different way the week is spaced.
And like you, I didn't want to regret the pre-school years either. I wouldn't have done it any other way - I wanted to home with them. But I also found it helpful to be honest that I didn't love it completely. I am happy they are at school now and I am looking forward to this stage and the new decisions that come with it.
You will get there. Hang in there. Keep being faithful.
Look forward to seeing you in a few weeks!
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