A note to tired parents of small children from one

I've thought a lot lately about exhaustion. (I wonder why! :-) Now, I've worked very exhausting jobs in the past. I've worked at an egg product factory. I've worked on my feet as a cook in a college cafeteria. I've worked at a YMCA day camp teaching horseback riding lessons all day. A few years ago I got a job assembling Christmas wreaths. I know what it is to be completely spent after a long day at work. And now, with my third toddler, I have to say that there is nothing more exhausting than the toll parenting a child under 4 takes on you. It's not all physical--it's emotional too. At least when working out of the home I got two fifteens and a thirty. No breaks here. During nap time it's catch-up time.

But I guess the most difficult thing is that after an exhausting day at a physically tough job, or working on a long paper for school, or any other task that requires lots of energy, you can throw yourself in a heap on the couch and nurse your sore back or feet or brain while reveling in the good feeling you get when you have worked hard and accomplished something. Going to sleep at the end of a long day with a toddler with unwashed laundry lying around in heaps slowly mixing with the clean, a pile of unread parenting guides by your bedside and a "to do" list that is longer for tomorrow than it was for today just leaves you spent without the pleasure of the feeling of accomplishment.

Here's what I've been trying to focus on today: we, as parents of toddlers, ARE accomplishing something. It may not be laundry or cooking or dusting or vacuuming, but every day, slowly, we are training our children to be successful, God-fearing people. We don't realize this on a daily basis. Sometimes you have to think back over the past few months to see this growth. But it is there. So for all you moms of small children--tonight when you slip under the covers in sheer exhaustion remember that you DID accomplish something today---good job!