For the Mamas of Preschoolers :: at (in)courage

 “God doesn’t expect us to be instant experts at something we’ve never done before. And he promises to make up the difference.”

Scharlotte Rich, The Promise of a Mother’s Prayers

I grab granola bars and throw them in my cart. I look up and then I see her, the cute pony-tailed mama pushing two blonde twin boys in a race car shopping cart. And not a one of ’em looks happy, child or mom. One boy complains his brother is hogging the cart space, the other cries when mama says no to more Oreos.

Quick as lightening I rewind ten years, back to pushing a race car shopping cart with my own twin toddlers. I’m doing my best to get the groceries on my list before my two year old boys get the best of me. I referee argument #57 of the morning: who gets to “drive” the race car shopping cart. {Which is extra ridiculous as those little carts have *two* steering wheels. For the love!} I round the corner towards frozen food, praying I keep what loose grip I have on the situation. And right there between the rocky road and moose tracks ice cream, a well meaning older woman says, “Oh, what darling boys you have! Now dear, enjoy every minute of this because it passes so fast. These are the bestyears of your life!”

“Really?” I lament inside my head. “This is as good as it gets? Well then. I’ll need extra ice cream now.”

I force a smile to the woman and grab another carton of moose tracks.

My boys are now twelve and my daughter is eight. With those early parenting years in my rear-view mirror, I can tell you they weren’t the best years of my life. They were the most exhausting years of my life. Oh, I enjoyed my babies somethin’ fierce, and I didn’t wish that precious time away. But the days tucked inside those years weren’t all dreamy, sunshiney, and Hollywood-y. Some were just plain long and hard. And at that holding-it-all-together-by-a-thread grocery store moment, I needed to hear something that gave me hope.

 Will you join me here to read some things I wish someone had told my mama-of-preschoolers self?  And if you are a mama of older kids, what encouragement can you give a mama of little’uns?

{P.S. Top pictures are of my 3 precious cherubs about 7 years ago. The above picture, taken by my sister Sara, is of my too-cute-for-words niece and nephew.}