A Prayer for the Stay-At-Home Mom During Summertime
by Jenners • 06/14/2011 • BB/The Little One, My Take On... • 100 Comments
The Little One’s last day of school was yesterday, and (as I mean-spiritedly tweeted) my life has taken a turn for the worse. Nothing like the “thrill” of endless hours of togetherness to push a relationship to its limits. As we were eating lunch today, the following “prayer” popped into my head and I knew I had to write it down.
A Prayer for the Stay-At-Home Mom During Summertime
This summer, God grant me the serenity to:
- let my child spend 20 minutes making his own peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch even though my hands are twitching to grab the knife from his hands and do it myself
- teach him how to do his own laundry (even if that means tossing wet clothes into the dryer for 10 minutes and missing 45% of the shots)
- say nothing when he helps clean his spot at the table by brushing all the crumbs onto the floor
- step over the tiny cars that are spread all over the living room floor and the zoo set up in the upstairs hallway
- tolerate the screaming and shouting of all his friends who come over to play (because then I might be able to sneak in some blogging or reading in between refereeing screaming fights and applying Band-Aids to scrapes)
- spend upwards of $30 a week on drinks and snacks and ice cream for all his friends who come over to play because, darn it, I wanted to be the house where all the kids hang out so I can keep an eye on things
- say “yes” at least once a week to chorus of screams for ICE CREAM FROM THE ICE CREAM TRUCK!!!!!!
- plan, supply and execute a variety of arts and crafts projects, even ones that are very messy
- drag out and set up the sprinkler, slip and slide and wading pool, even though the kids get bored of each one after 30 minutes
- allow my child to push the shopping cart at the grocery store even though it means getting hit in the heels or the butt at least 250 times
- sit through every single kid’s movie we can find at the theater because, hey, it is dark, air-conditioned and he won’t be talking during the movie
- remember that I wanted to stay-at-home because I didn’t want to miss all these moments with him (even though it would be super swell if I could spread those moments out a little more and have some quiet time in between).
Help me to accept wet carpets, spilled drinks, bubble solution that is spilled less than 5 seconds after being opened, endless requests for ice cream, noise levels that exceed 110 decibels and a screen door that is never closed properly and lets in all the bugs!
Give me the courage to look at all the injuries at the children under my care (no matter how bloody or gross), to provide a safe haven for the children who seem to have no adult supervision in their own homes, admire the worms and bugs that have been captured, and deal with all horrifying bugs that appear in the house due to the screen door never being shut properly.
Give me the wisdom to know that being able to stay-at-home with my son is worth more than the loss of peace and quiet and sense of control that I have given up in exchange.
Amen.
- click on image for source
Oh Jenners – while I am grateful that I am in the empty nest phase of life (well almost anyway)….I must admit that this post was a bit nostalgic for me. You are a GREAT mom and the time you spend with those kids and the lessons you are teaching them are so important to our society today. Thank you for being that stay at home mom and putting your family first.
I invite a lot of kids over too. I like to keep an eye on the wild ones. In their own homes, these kids are controlled. My house? I think that they need to be tranquilized sometimes!
Hats off to you!! It astounds me how wild some kids can be … and how unsupervised at times!!!
As hard as it was to be a working mom when my son was younger I can definitely see the benefits!
I’m sure there are pluses and minuses to both working and staying at home. As always, the grass usually looks greener on the other side.
This was just awesome. I can always count on you to make me laugh. I need to write out a list with a toddler in mind.
We’re actually glad school is out so that we can visit the school yard and let the kids play on the jungle gym. But maybe a visit from the ice cream truck will balance out wet floors and slow peanut butter sandwich making.
Only if Mommy gets some ice cream too! And it is so weird but once it gets hot, the ice cream truck stops coming!! He starts in April when it is cold and we’re not ready for him. Then he disappears around the end of June/beginning of July. Makes no sense to me!
You hit it right on! I am trying to make my kids summer fun and magical- before they are too old to enjoy it.
I’ve been trying to create “magic” too … like the other night the Little One and his friends were chasing fireflies in the back yard. That is something I remember doing when I was little.
Amen. This is my first week of both kids home all day every day.
I’d also like to add – please let me be patience with any house guests that come this summer. I really have a hard time with extra people in the house.
I agree with you on house guests. It is anything but relaxing. Good luck surviving the summer.
gosh, guess you don’t want to know that i’ve been praying for summer to last FOREVER this year because my students wore me out! while you cheer for september, i weep!
I guess we are coming at this from two different angles….
It is so worth it to pay that money for food and snacks to have the kids at your house! I’m actually jealous that you still have all this going on!
Well feel free to fly in and relieve me for a few days while I live your fabulous life of Blogger Extraordinaire with mature children!
AHAHA!!! Is this what I’ll get for being a SAHM? Right now I just change diapers every 30 minutes. And I’m only exaggerating a little bit. The pushing the shopping cart and getting hit in the heels cracked me up.
Take a glimpse at your future. It simultaneously gets easier and harder as they grow up … if that makes any sense. I suspect you are figuring that out already! : )
When I am in the midst of getting ready for another rant at the kids…I remind myself that in a few years – they will be gone and it will be too quiet around here! One of the good things about homeschooling is that you get used to being with the little monsters all day every day – so the transition into summer isn’t as harsh as it is for moms of public school kids!
You do sound like the fun house though….and just think how prepared you will be for the teen years and being the fun house!
Bless you for being able to home school. I’m positive I couldn’t hack it. And I suspect the teen years “fun” house will be a lot different than it is now. The words “let’s go play in the basement” don’t quite strike fear in my heart like they might when he is older!
Hang in there, kiddo, pretty soon he’ll be a teenager . . . . and then, and then . . . . hell, I won’t spoil the surprise for you what you’re in store for. I remember back many moons when my kids were in school and my best friend would call me the first day of school in Sept and sing FREEDOM, FREEEEEDOM. Yep, September couldn’t come fast enough for us.
September is the most wonderful time of the year … I think that was a Staples commercial a while back but I didn’t appreciate it fully until now! I just hope the teenage years bring sleeping in until noon!!!
You are hilarious! I was just thinking the other day how glad I was that I went back to work instead of becoming a stay at home mom. I did it for one year and it was enough to drive me insane. Seeing how crazy E is these days make me even more glad that I’m not with her 24 hours because I wouldn’t last the day! I have so much awe and respect for stay at home moms and the patience they have!
Hope you can make it through the summer intact! If all else fails, there’s always ice cream
It isn’t always easy and it took a long time to get used to but I thought it got much more mangeable when he started full time school … it gives me that needed break. Of course, that all goes away in the summertime!!! ACK!
My kids leap out of bed at about 6 am – or even earlier in order to make the most of the day… I like mornings, but sometimes wonder what it would be like to sleep in until … er.. say 6.30.
I have to work for another two weeks but as it’s holidays already, the kids are off to various camps during the day. After that – let the mayhem loose! And for some strange reason, I said yes to my niece coming over and staying here for a month, so soon I’ll have three kids in the house!
Having said all this, I do love it and wouldn’t want to miss a minute! (Have earplugs – will use them!)
My son is the same way … he thinks he is missing everything by sleeping so he is up early every day no matter how often I tell him that no one is up and about at 6:00 am except him! I made a rule that he has to play quietly in his room until he can wake me at 7:30. It is against my religion to get up that early in the summer!
I’ve been needing that sort of prayer for a MONTH now. Yep, my kids have been out of school for almost a month now. I’ve lost all sanity I had to start off with. Is it August yet????
Wow! Your schools got out a lot sooner than ours did. We don’t start back to school until after Labor Day though. So you’re a month in … I’m sure it is taking its toll!
Hahaha I’m not even a SAHM (my kiddo comes to work with me…one of the lovely perks of owning your own preschool…) but this whole post made me laugh. Love it!
How cool that your kid gets to come to work with you. It seems like you have the best of both worlds!
Great post jenners! ‘spend upwards of $30 a week on drinks and snacks and ice cream for all his friends who come over to play because, darn it, I wanted to be the house where all the kids hang out so I can keep an eye on things’<-story of my life here!! I can relate! Aaaaaand…I I ran after the icecream truck for my daughter and her BFF today after school…lol.
Good for you! I hate running after the ice cream truck. We once tracked him to an entirely different neighborhood and didn’t manage to catch him. It was ridiculous!
AMEN!!!! I hope it also includes grandma’s
Sure … you can include grandmas too! Of course, grandma gets to send them home at night (at least I hope she does). : )
hahahahahah!
That’s a great prayer. And Serenity NOW for sure.
And you have to say “Serenity Now” in the voice of Frank Costanza!
Awww, such fond memories – or maybe not. Like you, I frequently had to remind myself that I CHOSE this stay-at-home thing. There were many days I wanted to send all the friends home and lock the door but, as I’m sure you’re finding, kids flock to the house where there’s a mom at home – especially one with ice cream and band-aids. Even as teens I found the friends still flocked to our house because there was always a meal on the table (might be frozen pizza, but it was something) and a Mom who cared. I was amazed at the number of kids who came from homes where meals were not a guarantee.
You will be richly blessed for all you’re doing – if you can just survive that long. Good luck.
I too have been surprised by the number of kids who don’t seem to get much to eat on a regular basis (one child was at our house for 8 hours and no one ever checked on her once … she is 7 years old!!!) It boggles my mind. But, even though it can be challenging, I think it is worth it in the long run. Some days I think “Why am I doing this?” but I know that I’m lucky it is even an option.
I know what you mean about having the kids at home. This is the first full week of my kids being off, and they are driving me nuts! They love to niggle at each other and fight all day, and it’s too hot to kick them outside when they do this. It’s a toss up, because I want to be home with them to prevent any type of bad behavior that goes on when parents aren’t home to watch their kids, but they sure do make life very difficult for me when they argue and pester all day long. I loved your prayer and think that you got the mix of humility and aggravation down perfectly!
My one upside is my son doesn’t have a sibling to fight with all day. The downside of that is that he expects me to play with him all day. Hence my willingness and encouragement to have other kids over all the time. We’ll get through this. We just need to keep telling ourselves that we can! : )
So funny! Good for you, starting him out early with laundry. I totally screwed up in that department. My teens still don’t know how to do laundry (partly because I’m too much of a control freak to hand it over to them). But, that’s one of my goals for this summer – teaching them to do laundry. I’m making a posterboard of instructions for visual aid and everything.
My 6-year-old really really wanted to help do his laundry and I figured it is better to let him learn now. He’ll be self-sufficient in that regard soon. He was really able to do most everything. I even taught him to fold his shirts! We’ll see how long this lasts! : )
And I can’t believe you are making posterboards! How funny!
Oh boy. We still have five days left and I’m trying my best to make the most of it. My goals for the summer are much simpler –
1. Try to do something educational every once in a while.
2. Use our zoo membership since, well, we paid for it.
3. Don’t sleep away every day this summer even though Z is a nice quiet kid.
I wish you luck with all of your goals! (And the movies are an AWESOME idea.)
If only I had the OPTION to sleep away the summer!!! My son gets up before 7:00 every damn day! The summer rule is “play by yourself and wake mommy up at 7:30.” There is no way I’m getting up at 6:00 all summer long!
LOL, and to think, one day these will be fond memories for both of you.
So they keep saying! I’ll look back on these days and miss them. Hard to believe that now though.
We teachers, SO love the vacations!
I’m sure you do!!! It is the parents who hate it!
I had to laugh at my future. I am just now coming out of the difficult, colicky, and stressful first 6-7 months and am enjoying the other side. Now I know that mothering can be wonderful and rewarding-people told me but I wasn’t sure I believed them! So, I assume when these lovely women say that you’ll miss this time, they’re probably right. Although mentioning grandkids went way too far, Jill!
I know just how you feel! You think “all those people are totally lying … it will never be better.” But then, lo and behold, it is! : )
You can get back at him when you hand him BACK the grandkids…
That just seems WAY too far in the future right now! : )
Amen, sister. Funny thing is that “working moms” think that at-home moms have a life of leisure–LOL LOL LOL!
My HUSBAND thinks I have a life of leisure! Then why does he look so tired when he has a few hours alone with the kid I wonder?
That’s a good prayer. I remember those days fondly. Teenagers still cause some chaos in the summer, but they can actually help do things, too. (That’s if their mother has had the patience to let them learn to do stuff like make their own lunch!)
Good point! All the time I take now to teach him stuff will come in handy later. He told me he wants to learn how to do his laudry and I thought “Why not? He is only 6 but why lose this opportunity?” It really isn’t all that hard!
Thank you for re-affirming my decision NOT to have kids.
You’re welcome. I view my blog as a form of birth control for others in a way. HAHA!
Love the prayer, I use to have one for myself as a stay at home mom of five kids, plus one extra, but those young years are the best I see now. I miss them, it’s these teenage years that are pushing me to the brink. In a few years, it’ll be an empty nest and I think I will celebrate with a cruise in the mediterrean. I think I deserve it.
Five kids plus an extra? I think you deserve a round the world cruise!!!! Everyone says I will miss these times but it is very hard to see that when you are in the thick of it.
I suspect many stay at home moms will have a few more gray hairs once Sept rolls around as well. Enjoy your together time.
I’m going to be all gray if it goes like today did. All the stuff in the prayer pretty much happened today. But he dropped the paint brush with the blue paint onto the carpet after I wrote this … I think. It all blurred together.
o.k. I must have done something wrong, or maybe I’m a sucker for punishment. I actually loved having them home for the summer, still do, even thought they’re big (men STILL in school) we get a lot of reading done together. when they were little it would be library clubs, and stuff. Am I nuts?
Yes … you are nuts. : )
I feel your pain! Not too long ago this was my life, not just summer. We’re having the same issues with doors being left open and lots of bugs!!
I feel like my parents now: “If I told you once, I told you a hundred times: DON’T STAND THERE WITH THE DOOR OPEN.” It drives me nuts!
LOL! That sounds very similar to my summer. I just wish there was a week or two of school in the middle of the summer holiday so us mums can have a brief period of recovery before starting again – 7 weeks chaos is far too long. Enjoy your summer
I hear you … or government-sponsored summer camp or a semester of “fun” school where they go to school but learn art and drama and music and stuff like that. Anything but this!!!
Exactly! I have to remind myself of that last bullet point all of the time. Also, I used to dread having neighborhood kids over, but now I love that the kids are entertaining themselves for a while.
The worst thing to me is the horrified looks that homeschool moms give me when I say anything that approaches a complaint about having the kids home for the summer. I’m really not an awful mom, I swear. But by the end of summer (or the first week) my nerves are frayed. It just reaffirms to me that teachers need higher pay. It takes so much energy to engage with kids all day long.
I could not home school my child. I just don’t have the personality or the patience for it. It takes a certain type of person and I’m not that type of person.
I do think having multiple kids can be loud and messy and a headache but they do tend to play together and leave you alone. It is critical for me because he is an only child and his only playmate is me if I don’t have other kids come over. It is a survival mechanism!
Jackie – We have 12 weeks of summer break here. The kids love it, but I am worn thin by the end of summer.
I know you won’t believe this, but you’ll miss this stage when it’s over. Before you know it, his summer plans won’t include you.
You say that (as do others) but why do I not quite believe it? I guess I’ll get it when I get there. : )
It’s like a glimpse into my future, isn’t it? Happy summer, Jenners!
Don’t let this glimpse into your future scare you … too much! I actually wouldn’t trade this part for the stage you are in now. The no sleep and limited interaction was difficult!!
summertime seems even more chaotic to me sometimes than school time…there is just no set schedule…and every week is different…that’s what makes me nuts!
I agree! At least during the school year you have a structure. The burden of coming up with all the entertainment and schedules and activities just wears me out.
I just discovered your blog and really enjoyed looking around….soooo much to see. I’m going to add you to the blogroll on the book blog I just started. Hope you don’t mind.
If you ever meet a blogger who doesn’t want to be added to a blogroll, let me know! I don’t think there is one out there. I’m excited to come and check out your blog. I’ll swing by later tonight or tomorrow.
I am laughing hysterically about your “prayer”. Those were the days, but I had a girl, so maybe it was easier? Probably not. OK, you may not be able to do this and your little guy may not be old enough, but my advice is – wait for it – SWIM TEAM! Serious swim team. Practices are early and yes, you have to spend your Saturdays attending meets and doing things like serving nachos and dill pickles at 7:30 AM (ack!), but swim team was our elementary school friend. And, a plus was that my girl ended up being an excellent swimmer and I didn’t have to worry so much about her becoming overwhelmed in the pool or whatnot.
I feel for you and I do miss those days – a little – or not – no, not really. Now, my girl and I just go get pedicures and lunch! LOL
Well, except for selling pickles at 7:30 am, it sounds good. He is taking swimming lessons and seems to love the water so I’ll have to look into it.
Oh … and having pedicures and lunch with your daughter sounds like a lovely dream!
As someone who is now on “the other side” of kids at home – I love the quiet reading/blogging time but also miss all the action. Well, sometimes…
I think you are honest!!!! Most people say I will miss it so much … but I think I’ll just think back on this fondly and then go back to reading.
Like the Mother’s Day card The Boy got me when he was five – “Count your blessings, MOM – I could have been twins!”
He’s just one adorable little boy…how much chaos can he create?
I bet he’s not telling you 1219 facts about the evils of Scientology all day, is he?
And don’t you know that you use the dining room chairs as a barricade – so messy stuff like paint stays in the kitchen?
Rookie.
That card must have made your blood run cold. I know it did mine … the thought of twins just freaks me out. On the plus side, they’d always have a playmate I guess.
He doesn’t create that much chaos by himself. It is when the pack of kids descends on the house that chaos reigns. We are quickly becoming the go to playplace for the first grade set. I like it but it is stressful too.
And I am such a rookie. I barely know what I’m doing. As soon as I figure things out, he changes things up on me.
You should move to Scotland. I think our school year is about 20 days longer. My kids get out July 1 and go back the second week of August.
I seriously had to laugh at so many of these. The bubbles…I hate blowing bubbles. And the spills with bubbles. So annoying! I hate the
bugs in the house too! My kids never shut the back door.
For me, it’s not tiny cars, but legos. Those suckers HURT when you step on them!
That is reason enough to move to Scotland. If I ever become president, I will institute year-round school ASAP. And the other day I almost passed out after getting lightheaded from blowing so many bubbles. I need to get one of those bubble blowing machines.
okay…nevermind. I looked back and I DID enter. You’d think I was the one losing my mind from having kids home with me all day!
Yeah … what is up with you??? : )
Ah, Jenners….. this brings back SO many memories!! Ahahahahahahah!!! (that’s a bit of a hysterical laugh!)
You’ll survive.
You know. I don’t remember if I entered your June giveaway already. I presume if it lets me do it, that means I haven’t done it already.
I thought I detected a bit of hysteria to your laughter. You had a flashback didn’t you? : )
I know you’ll think I’m kidding, but I’m not, in a few years you’ll wonder what you were complaining about. My house is so quiet I’d like to scream … TRY TO ENJOY. It’ll be hard but try…
You are right … it is hard to believe. I’ll try to appreciate this moment though.
I could add so many to that list but if I could add just one it would be the serenity not to scream when asked at 7am “what are we doing today?”
Oh that IS bad! I made a rule that mommy is not to be bothered before 7:30 am. He has to play quietly until then because he gets up at 6:00 am. IN THE SUMMER! ACK!
And after all of that, they are bored for most of the summer! I remember it well! But, enjoy it, the time goes by all too quickly and he will be grown!
There is NOTHING worse than the “I’m boooooorred.” Oh .. so I guess you don’t need the 1.4 million toys you have, huh?
You are a much nicer mother than me! Though I’m saying a slightly modified version of that prayer right now too…
Well, you should see me when I get in my “screaming” mode. I’m not so nice then. But less than 10 minutes ago, he dropped a paint brush with bright blue paint on our cream colored carpet and I was SOOOOO calm. I was amazed at myself.
loving this!
Are you living the dream of non-stop children too? We are sooooooooooo lucky!