Something occurred to me yesterday as I watched my daughter sit in the back seat of the car clutching a pink bowl in her lap. She is still adjusting to a new school, and every morning this week she has been throwing up. Yesterday she told me it wasn't nerves, she was really sick.
I patiently told her I knew she was sick, but she had to at least try to make it to school. I felt unbelievably cruel watching her get out of the car, dry heaving, and walking the last little way to school. I know, though, if she doesn't make it through this week, the nerves will be just as bad next week. Still, there's a part of me imagining that I've misdiagnosed the situation completely, and what if she really is sick with some terrible disease?
Why, for the love of the universe, do we ever become parents? Do the benefits really outweigh the negatives? Why didn't anyone sit down with me and explain what it would be like to live with your heart in your throat for the rest of your natural life? Why didn't anyone warn me that I might not be cut out for this as a career?
And here's what I came up with! I think that lying is part of the evolution of the human race. I think the whole entire purpose of a human being's ability to lie is to ensure the continuation of the species! Sure, we use lying for a number of different reasons now, mainly selfish, but in the beginning lying was purely a means of self-preservation! I will bet that when someone asked Mary if she enjoyed being a parent, she said: "Well, Jesus is certainly no angel, and I wasn't really prepared for motherhood, but now I wouldn't have it any other way."
Isn't asking someone with children if they love having children, a little like asking someone if they love the haircut they've just had? It's not until you get home, behind closed doors that the tears flow! Who wants to admit they've made a huge mistake? Hair, of course, will grow back. And children will grow up, but you are parents forever, and ever, and ever!
If parents were completely open and honest about the challenges of raising kids, just how long would the human race continue? Of course, maybe I'm a little jaded. I have four children, two of whom are teenagers.
That being said, if you asked me right now, right this very minute, whether I made the right choice to have children, or whether the good moments outweigh the bad, I would say ... YES, absolutely! I love my children more than life itself, and I love being a mother.
Would I lie to you?!!!
And here's what I came up with! I think that lying is part of the evolution of the human race. I think the whole entire purpose of a human being's ability to lie is to ensure the continuation of the species! Sure, we use lying for a number of different reasons now, mainly selfish, but in the beginning lying was purely a means of self-preservation! I will bet that when someone asked Mary if she enjoyed being a parent, she said: "Well, Jesus is certainly no angel, and I wasn't really prepared for motherhood, but now I wouldn't have it any other way."
Isn't asking someone with children if they love having children, a little like asking someone if they love the haircut they've just had? It's not until you get home, behind closed doors that the tears flow! Who wants to admit they've made a huge mistake? Hair, of course, will grow back. And children will grow up, but you are parents forever, and ever, and ever!
If parents were completely open and honest about the challenges of raising kids, just how long would the human race continue? Of course, maybe I'm a little jaded. I have four children, two of whom are teenagers.
That being said, if you asked me right now, right this very minute, whether I made the right choice to have children, or whether the good moments outweigh the bad, I would say ... YES, absolutely! I love my children more than life itself, and I love being a mother.
Would I lie to you?!!!
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