Affirmation is good for the soul

As a parent, I often wonder if I’m doing anything right. It is so very difficult to know. It is not like children come with instruction booklets and even if they did, each one is different so it mostly likely wouldn’t help anyway.

Today, however, I got affirmation that my hard work is paying off.

A friend watched Liam yesterday morning while CJE took me to a doctor’s appointment. She told us when we got back how much fun she and Liam had had and what a good boy he was and that she would be happy to watch him again anytime.

That made me feel good, but this morning she went one better. She called me and left a message on my voice mail. This is what she said: “I was just calling to thank you again for letting me come over and babysit your son yesterday. I had the best time and I just wanted to tell you that I think you have the most special child.”

Wow! I think he’s special, but my judgement is likely to be somewhat clouded on the subject. After all I’m not exactly an uninterested observer. Hearing he is special and sweet from someone else is a huge affirmation of what I am trying to do here.

There is no doubt this is the hardest thing I’ll ever do. They say that in order to grow and learn, you should do something everyday that scares you. Well, I got that covered; it scares me every day to get up and be a mom.

I want Liam to be healthy and smart and compassionate. I want him to be strong and wise and loving. I want him to love God and his fellow man. I want him to have good values and sound judgement. How do you teach these things? How do you instill them in your child?

Every day I take my best guess and hope something comes out right. Apparently it’s working cause he is a cute little boy who is strong and smart and sweet and fun. So, for today, I can breathe easy. Tomorrow is another day.