What I Wish I Would Have Known as a Young Mommy – Part 3

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21.  Have a budget and stick to it.  Our children will learn how to manage money from watching what we do.  (See #7)  I must live and then teach money management to them.  I can’t encourage you to enough to save now as I now realize that saving money was a lot easier to do when the kiddos were itty-bitty.  There are much greater options and wishes as they grow.

22.  Unless asked, most people don’t want to hear how to fix a problem. Go to any women’s group with a newborn baby and you will hear 15 unsolicited pieces of advice on how to get a child to sleep at the “perfect” time and for the largest amount of time. If that doesn’t work, bring up potty training.  I am learning (at a snails pace sometimes) that if people want advice, they will ask for it. Otherwise, it is best to be a good listener.

23.  Don’t have conversations with your children while talking on the phone.  This is very annoying to the person whom you are talking too.  For one, they can’t see your child no matter how cute you think they are being.  On the flip side, no one wants to talk to someone as they constantly discipline their kids.  If there is something important which you need to tend to, ask the caller if you can call back at a later time.

24.  Just because my friends claim to be “Christians” doesn’t mean we will raise our children the same way.   I guess I was living in La-La Land when our children were first born.  I assumed that all the families we went to church with would have the same expectations and limitations for their children.  This has most definitely not been the case.  As our children have grown, we have learned that there are some families – while we still like them – we do not spend free time with because it is hard on our kiddos when expectations are not the same.

25. Gather godly women to be in the trenches with you.  So important.  Find a few gals who are in your same stage of life and huddle together.  Hold each other accountable in your spiritual walks and encourage each other in the dark days.

26.  I need to give myself and others grace. My high expectations of myself expect me to be on top of it all, all of the time.  This isn’t gonna happen. (See #16)   I can’t be all, to all, all the time.  And that is okay. God gives me grace and I need to give myself grace.  And, other people in my life need this same grace.

27.  Find a godly woman with older children to gain wisdom and support from.  This is so important.  With all of the newfangled ideas out there, find a woman to bounce ideas off of.  Pray that God will lead you to a woman who will hold your accountable and keep your grounded as the winds of parenting blows.

28. Spend time in the Word daily and pray without ceasing. This is key to being a mom. Littles suck the life out of me and I must be refreshed. It doesn’t have to be long or extensive. But, a daily quiet time is the only source of survival for the long days and to allow me to enjoy these beginning years.  Allowing God to change me from the inside out is the only way to train my child in the way he or she should go. Think I am asking you to donate a kidney?  Read how this isn’t as big of request as it seems.

29.  As much as this child needs me, I need this child…and God knows it.  Read more…

30.  And in closing…While the days can be long, the years are incredibly short.  As my kiddos get older, this is becoming more and more real.  They were little just yesterday…or so it seems.  Cling to the moment and don’t let it slip by.

Wish that I could say that I have mastered all of these, but I haven’t.  But through prayer and the help of the Holy Spirit, I am getting there.  Step by step….day by day.

And you will too.