Motherhood Quote of the Week - April 24

“The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant, and let the air out of the tires.” – Dorothy Parker

Depending upon the day you are experiencing you may or may not want to let the air out of the tires, whether it be bicycles, cars, etc.! Lately, I find myself perusing photo albums that I have saved on the computer throughout the past 12.5 years of motherhood and each time my fingers grace the keyboard, the waterworks start a-flowing!  I do not know exactly what brings me to this “Trip Down Memory Lane” but I am overwhelmed at how quickly life passes! 

I suppose I’ve been thinking much about the rapidity because my eldest will be 13 in November.  Maybe the fact that I will soon have a teenager living in my house prompts me to take notice and assess how life has gone thus far.  The other day, reality hit me smack in the face.  I realized that my son might have already spent more than half his life for which he will reside in our home.  Suppose the university he attends is located on the other side of the U.S. or suppose he joins the military and is deployed in another country.  I have no idea what God’s plan is for my eldest child (or my other 6 children) but man, do I wish time would S-L-O-W down!

I may not possess the ability to cease time but I am capable of creating a pleasant home atmosphere by which my kids will desire to be home – while they are growing – and that they will desire to return home when they have reached adulthood and created lives of their own.  Is my home a place where they feel safe, loved, appreciated, and important?  Do my words and actions convey how deeply I love them?  Or am I stressed out, prone to losing my temper and saying harsh words?  Do I mindlessly wave a hand at them to shoo them away because there are too many things to do?

Oh, may we mothers create a home environment that exudes love, acceptance, safety, pleasantry, and godliness.  If we desire for our little ones to hang out with us when they are teenagers, to visit home often once they attend the university or get married, we need to develop an enjoyable home environment now.  Let us create memories now so that our children will think fondly of home and always return to visit and spend time with us.