Being Present

Don't let my social media feeds fool you. I like probably a decent amount of parents, struggle with being present. Life is crazy. Life is busy. There is family, work, and day to day life. The other day I made a joke that I talk on the phone with Logan's providers more than I do my family. That is sad, but so true. I have limited time. When I am not running around from appointment to appointment ; I am at work. 

It is hard. The part of this all that seems to be forgotten is that I am not only mom to Logan...I also have Mason. I don't want Mason to grow up in his brother's shadow. I want him to be himself and be known for who he is. 

The picture above was taken by Mason this past week. At least once a day he asks for us to build that puzzle. He has built it about 10 different ways. I don't think he cares as much for the puzzle as he does for the one on one him and I get to spend. 

This boy is my sanity. I promised him to do more fun things with him. To dedicate more of my time to him. He deserves it. He is a trooper. He sometimes settles for us simply cuddling while he watches Nerflix. He is wonderful.

The point of my words is that as parents we tend to worry about spending loads of money on our children. Making sure they have the hippest clothes, and the best shoes. Spending money on useless toys that they get bored of in 2.5 seconds when that's not what matters to them at all. If I think back to growing up I do not think of how I didn't have $200 shoes or how I wore clothes from Walmart. I think to how much time was spent as a family. How often did we have family dinners or watch movies. Was I able to openly speak to my parents?

Kids won't remember how much you spent on them. Kids will remember how much you spent with them. Let's be present in our children's lives. Let's give them a good example to follow. 

"Children are great imitators. Give them something good to imitate."