She took the words right out of my mouth...

Ok, don't laugh...but every so often I do a little reading online about "being the best mom I can be".  Of course most of the time I go by my own motherly instincts but I also like to read what other mom's are doing and what they have to say.  It's so incredibly important to me that I am the best mother I can be.   I always knew that when Shane and I had kids that I would put my heart and soul into them.  That they would be my #1 priority and this would be the most important job of my life.  And now that she is here, I want that even more.  I owe that to her.

So anyway, I came across this blog post and I swear it was like seeing my own thoughts written by someone else.

What Being a Good Mother Means to Me

I have written before that I am sad when I leave Amber at home one day a week while I work and that it bothers me to not have her with me.  I have been considering why that makes me sad and I think a lot of it has to do with my views on being a good mother to my little girl.  I do not think there is any one correct answer to the question of how to best go about being a good mother, as there are many ways for being a good mother.  That being said, I do believe that there is one very important key to being a good mother and that is time.

When I talk about time, I do not mean we need more time, though as mothers I think we all wish we had a few more hours in the day and a few more hands to use during those hours.  When I talk about time, I mean that being a good mother means investing lots of good quality time into your children.

I get teased on a semi-regular basis about wanting to take my daughter everywhere with me.  I do not like leaving her at home with babysitters, even family.  I like having my daughter with me as much as possible.  I want to spend time with her, I want to interact with her.  She is my responsibility.  I chose to bring her into my life and I should take the time and be with her.  *( i think I have actually said this exact paragraph to Shane before)

Don’t get me wrong, being a mom is hard work and all moms need a break from time to time.  I think particularly since so many modern moms are working full time, taking care of their children, and have so many other responsibilities, etc, that some time away from our children occasionally is important for our own sanity.  I enjoy my night or two a month that I get away for the evening with friends and have no child responsibilities.

But, those rare nights out are all I want.  To me, being a good mother means spending a high quantity and high quality amount of time with my daughter.  I am bothered when I see other parents out there, leaving their children with babysitters two, three, four evenings a week.  How could you not want to be home with your children, playing with them, teaching them, laughing with them?

Yes, being a mom is hard, but I signed up for this job.  I knew it was going to be tough and I knew there would be days that I would want to run screaming to my room and just hide.  But that is not how it works.  I truly think that for me the key to being a good mother is to be there for my child as much as I possibly can.  I will have time to myself when she’s out of the house and grown.