The Survival Guide for Rookie Moms

For all of you brand new moms, you probably won’t have an experience like this for some time, but it’s neat to look into the future to see what types of “surprises” you can expect from your children.

My kids are 4 and 7 years old. Overall they are generally helpful children. As with all young kids they are more focused on playing games and doing crafts rather than helping mommy clear the table after dinner. I have recently been trying to teach them to contribute to our family meals by removing their plates from the dinner table and taking them to the sink. Normally this activity is followed by the crashing of a fork on the floor and left over pieces of dinner falling off the plates. While cute and a learning for them, this actually makes my clean up job way more extensive….but, it’s the thought that counts….right

Sometimes the unexpected delight does occur. This past Saturday I was hosting a dinner party for my family.  All of the adults had finished their dinner and we were all sitting around the table chatting.  All of a sudden my daughter started to clear the dinner table (and NOT just her own plate….but everyone’s plates). Both my husband and I gave my daughter approving words for taking the initiative, which prompted my son to join in and help my daughter. Between the two of them, they cleared the entire dinner table, placemats, serving platters, wine glasses and all. I was very happy but also wondered what type of awful mess would be left for me in the kitchen. So, I poured myself another glass of wine and decided to tackle that job later on.

Now, up to this point I was very impressed with both my daughter and my son. They could have stopped at this point and went to their rooms to play. However, the true surprise was when I finally got up the courage to walk into the kitchen and found that my daughter had rinsed all the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, had put saran wrap on all the left-over food and put it in the fridge and she had wiped down the counters.

I have to say, I almost fainted.  I admit that I didn’t think my daughter had it in her to tackle such a large job. I didn’t know she even knew where the saran wrap was let alone what it’s used for. When I turned to one of my dinner guests to profess my amazement she said something that will stick with me forever. She said “obviously your daughter watches you very closely and she knew exactly what to do”.  It was at that moment that I realized how closely my daughter must watch me when I am not paying attention.

So, for all you veteran moms out there…what I learned is that it is the smallest acts that can surprise you the most when it comes to your children. And for all you Rookie Moms out there….be aware of how you act as your child will mimic you when you least expect it, for the good or the worse.

Filed under: Parenting Tagged: | Activites with Kids, Busy mom, child cleaning, child suprises, children, Family, healthy eating, Motherhood, new mom, Parenting