Flowers in California

Flowers in California

Friday, May 6, 2011

Should you really be calling me that?

Within the last few minutes, I tucked my son into bed.  I think I did particularly well on the tucking in tonight - the comforters were nicely arranged around him.  He looked comfortable.

As I left his room he said "Good night Mum."  Given the nature of our relationship, this is reasonable.  I am his mother and have been for over 10 years.  Still, though - he got me as a mother and I've fooled him into believing that I am suited for this role.

It's not that I'm criticizing myself here.  What I'm saying is that it's hard to see myself as a mother.  I'm still me.  There were bumps in the road to becoming a mother. And after he was born I didn't know what I was doing and I haven't taken formal education for this position along the way.  I'm still doing (some of) what a normal parent does for him and I love him more than anything in the world but, wow, I'm what's passing for a Mum these days.  Incredible.

Again and again, people become parents.  And suddenly a little person depends on these people who are in a position of importance solely because the little person has come along.  We hope that the parents know or will learn what to do.  But there are no guarantees.

Kids count on their parents, step-parents, god-parents, grandparents.  They don't have much choice.  It's an awesome reponsibility raising children.  And it's incredible that it's just normal people who are given the responsibility to handle it.

Happy Mother's Day!

JAHD

2 comments:

  1. Nice post!....scary....but true. I never thought of it that way.....who are these people and why are they calling me Mom?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Exactly, Kim. Shouldn't people much more qualified be handling this kind of thing? Although we are doing pretty great jobs it seems. Joanne

    ReplyDelete