Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Me time


Lately I have been contemplating "me time." I used to have it, but now I do not. Is it that important for a Mom to have me time?

My children used to go to Mother's Day Out at our church 2 days a week from 9:00 - 2:00. I would spend those days running myself to death. I would either run all over town to get all of my errands taken care of or I would clean my house from top to bottom. Then after I picked my kids up I was either so tired I could not stay awake or I did not want to bring the kids home because I did not want them to mess up the house.

Now my oldest is too old for Mother's Day Out and we have started homeschooling and we moved to the other side of town and I would spend 30 minutes taking and picking up kids.

So in order to have "me time" I would have to put my oldest in school and my two others in Mother's Day Out. But what would this mean for my kids. It would mean that my oldest would be in public school. My husband and I would lose all control over what he is taught. We would lose all control over the influences in his life. It would mean that my two oldest children would not spend as much time together and their friendship would probably suffer. It would mean that my baby would grow up not having his loving brother and sister hovering over him all the time. It would also mean that I would have to pay $36 a week for childcare plus the gas it would cost to get to Mother's Day Out.

Is that worth it for "me time." I do not think so. I was recently reading a book called Passionate Housewives Desperate for Christ. It makes the point that as Christian we no longer own our lives or our time. We are bond servants of Christ and my job for Christ right now is to make sure my children grow up learning all they can about Christ all day long.

So for now I will try to focus on the time I get with my kids while they still want to be around me. And not focus on my toenails that desperately need a pedicure or my gray hair that needs to be covered. I will focus on the beautiful smiles I get to see everyday.

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