Light Refreshments Served

I’ll just come out and say it: thinking about Christina’s life makes me a little tired. But reading about her life makes me happy. She has a great blog with lots of great ideas about parenting, blogging, scrapbooking, and getting through the day. Thanks for sharing!

More about Christina in her own words:

I’m a mother of 7 kids born in 9 years. Sometimes I post things that are inspirational, sometimes I post things that are funny, sometimes I post about raising kids, and in honor of the billion times I’ve been asked, “How do you do it?” sometimes I post about managing a large family.

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Signs of a Good Mom
I went walking with a mother of five children the other day and was surprised to see two bikes on the porch roof.  It seems that her 8 and 6 year old decided to cruise the neighborhood without telling their mom.  The bikes are staying on the porch roof for another few weeks, a daily reminder to them of how mean their mom is.  I love it!  Bikes on the porch roof are a sure sign of a good mom. Since that walk, I’ve been thinking about some of the other lesser-known signs of a good mom.  Here’s what I’ve come up with:

• Good Moms let their kids get messy.  If you show up at a friend’s house and their child has playdough in her hair and a grin on her face, then you’ve found a good mom.  Good moms hope that Crayola means it when they sell “washable” markers.

• Good moms let their kids splash in puddles and throw rocks into the river.  Good moms let their kids ruin a few outfits.
• Good moms laugh at their kids’ jokes, even when they’re not funny.
• Good moms discipline their kids, even when the punishment is harder on the mom than on the child.  My friend is secretly wishing she could take those bikes off the roof and get the kids out of her hair.
• Good moms are willing to read “Go Dog Go” to their child twenty-six times a day.  They just hope their two-year-old doesn’t notice all the pages they skip.
• Good moms know it’s important for children to dress themselves, even if what they wear is embarrassing.  At least, that’s what I tell myself when my children go out in public in outfits like this:

• Good moms say encouraging things like, “Wow, what a neat snake!” and “That is a beautiful bug; why don’t we find a home for him OUTside?”  Good moms proudly display all the rocks their children bring home, even when they secretly throw them out the back window a week later.
  
• Good moms think dandelions are beautiful.  Especially when their kids blow the seeds in someone else’s yard.
• Good moms believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, even though they forget to email the tooth fairy five nights in a row.  They act surprised and excited when the tooth fairy leaves a note apologizing for the delay in picking up the tooth.
• Good moms make their kids say “I’m sorry” even though they know the child doesn’t really mean it.
• Good moms let their kids dress up like superheros.  Every day for a year.  Or two.

  

• Good moms can be found on the couch reading to their children while the dishes and the laundry and the mail piles up in the kitchen.
• Good moms develop amazing ways to keep important things out of the wrong hands.  In a book I read, a mom of ten kept donuts, potato chips and other goodies in the dryer and only once in a while ruined the clothes because of it.
• Good moms let their kids have a woobie.  Even if the child is a boy and his woobie is a pink pillowslip, they don’t sweat it.  Even when he shows up for the first day of Sunbeams and announces to his teacher, “My name is Michael and this is my pink woobie.”  Even when he brings it to preschool for show and tell.  Ten times.
• Good moms roll with the punches.  They laugh (eventually) at the mirror covered in toothpaste, the five gallons of water spilled on the floor, the Christmas presents unwrapped, the carrot cake turned upside down on the floor, the infamous syrup disaster, and the fingernail polish artwork on the wall.  They also cry sometimes.

Anyone want to add to my list?