How to be a good mom: rainy day edition
on restlessness, play, and lessons from the mud
Rainy days are about finding the right activities. Maybe you’re stuck on what to do at home with littles that doesn’t involve screens or pulling your hair out. If that’s you, here’s some insight from my own life.
Say “yes” to the homemade playdough at 10 am. At approximately 10:15am, ban the two boys from playing with it after you catch them smooshing every single toy car into the playdough after they were told not to.
Send the children out to play in the 48-degree drizzly weather. Tell your two middle children: “Do. Not. Play. In. The. Mud.” Say it 3 times for extra emphasis.
Later, instruct them on how to rinse their wet clay-filled boots in a nearby puddle. Throw them a couple towels to wipe their feet on when they come in. Whatever you do, do not let them sit on any furniture before having them change their pants. Rinse and repeat this exact same scenario tomorrow (or the next muddy Spring day).
Tell that 9-year-old who has been inside for too long that they’re being annoying. Then…apologize later when you’re being annoying.
Let your 8-year-old run down the driveway to get the mail and pray it doesn’t get dropped in a mud puddle. Tell her, “Please don’t drop it in the mud!” As if saying things like this every time ensures no accidents.
Make sure that your sweet 3-year-old has appropriate footwear for the weather. Watch her walk inside barefoot ten minutes later showing off dirty hands and feet. Smile and take a deep breath as she says, “I got muddy.”
Make baked apples for a snack to warm up the messy munchkins. Feel like the best mom ever while enjoying what smells like apple pie, but with far less work.
This was our day yesterday— the summed up, condensed version. I’ll tell you this, the kids had a much better time than I did. I spent too much time on my phone: making calls, sending texts, googling every little question that came to mind, watching YouTube. I was feeling unsettled, a little anxious, and couldn’t quite get out of the spiral of thoughts. It wasn’t until that afternoon when I dove into some housework, getting things checked off my nesting checklist that I was able to clear my head. Don’t worry, I’m not moving furniture or anything like that. There was dusting to do, closets to tidy up—the kind of work that can get put off for a long time until the Big Event is coming up (a baby, in this case).
I’m less than two weeks away (give or take some days) from giving birth to Baby #7. We don’t know the gender yet, and don’t know what day Baby will decide to come. After having four homebirths, three of which were with the same midwife, I now have a new hospital and doctors. Like any big change in life, so much feels unknown, like uncharted territory.
It’s impossible not to think about motherhood all the time when your belly is great with child. Am I doing this right? Was I a good mom today? I scratched out those words “How to be a good mom: rainy day edition” late last night when I crawled into bed with my notebook, ready to write something very profound.
You know what? At the end of a full day of homeschool, housework, lists to make and cross off, and phone scrolling, this was all I could think of: my little monkeys coming in and out of the house, knocking off bits of dirt and mud as they came.
While I was fretting about, trying to be so wise and orderly, there they were: boots kicked off, standing in mud up to their knees, and goofy grins for miles.
Questions to ponder:
What do you do when you’re stuck feeling restless?
Have you noticed that kids, when given the freedom, are really good at just being kids?
When did you last “kick off your boots” and enjoy God’s creation? Was it worth the mess?
Last night, waded in the Gulf of Mexico at sunset!