Let Them be Little – An Encouragement for Mothers

With Mothers Day approaching, I wanted to share a beautifully written guest post from my mother called Let Them be Little. I hope you enjoy friends!

My Mom let me be little. I knew I wanted to do the same for my own children. It was something I prayed about often~ not putting too much responsibility on the shoulders of my children, especially my oldest. It’s so easy to do, the more kids you have. I prayed I would allow her to laugh and be silly. To play longer. To imagine and dream. To be little. 

I watched other moms, and I remembered. My mom gave me that gift. She let me play with dolls until the sixth grade. She let me cry when I was hurting and hugged me when I was sad. She never told me to toughen up or to grow up. 

She let me be little.

Perhaps others might think I was coddled and I’ll be the first to admit, I probably was at times. 
But more than anything, I am thankful.

 
There are so many fine lines in the journey of motherhood. What if we’re doing it wrong? What if we’re coddling too much? Or not enough? What if we’re giving them too many responsibilities at too young an age? Are we babying them, or making them grow up too fast? Do we lose our patience when they cry too much? When they talk non stop in the middle of a terrible day, and we just want peace and quiet. Do we get irritated when they whine too much or ask for our help? Over and over and over? 

Don’t we do all the same things? 

Ask yourself that question. As an adult, do we feel the weight of responsibility? Do we cry when we’re hurt and whine when we’re irritated. Do we need a hug when we’re sad? We feel “all the things” as an adult, but our reactions are somehow justified because~Doesn’t every mom know that motherhood is hard?
Mama, sometimes life for your little one can be very hard too. Everything is big in their world. Big scary moments. Big hurting moments. Big happy moments and big moments filled with love. Do we find ourselves telling them to toughen up? Or grow up? All the heaviness of adulthood will come soon enough. Do we forget that they’ve only been on this earth for 2 years or 4 years? Even 10 years is a drop in the bucket when you are on this journey of motherhood~ because you blink and it’s over. The house is empty. 

Why am I thankful my mom let me be little? Because in that allowing, she taught me that I can’t always do it all alone. And that is okay. 

Sometimes I need help, and not only that~ I need love, and hugs, and reassurances. And that’s okay too.
And in the teaching I have learned that even when my “adult people” may fail me in these areas~ my Heavenly Father never does.  I can go to Him for anything. I can cry and whine with Him. I can be scared. I can laugh and I can talk non stop. I can ask Him for help. Over and over and over~ and He never gets tired of me asking. He never gets irritated or impatient. 

That’s what my mama taught me in allowing me to be little. 

Sometimes as adults life can be too big for us too, motherhood can be too big for us~but it’s never too big for God. When it gets hard and we feel all the “adult things”, we can go to Him in child like wonder and His love will be bigger than them all. 

It’s okay to be little with God. 

So here is some advice from a mother who is still learning. Pray for wisdom, every single day. Look for the ways you need your heavenly Daddy, and demonstrate that to your babies in how you act and react to them. Apologize often. Laugh with them, play with them, hug on them. 

But most of all~Let your love be bigger than everything else in their life~
and let them be little. 

Wasn’t that an amazing reminder to us all? This encouraged me so much and since God led me to ask my Mom for a guest post, I’m sure someone else needed to read this, too.

I hope this was an encouragement to you as mothers to let your little ones be little. If it was, will you let me know in the comments below? And by the way, my Mom’s blog, Holding Hope is filled with so many more beautiful articles just like this one! If you head over and subscribe to her blog, you will receive a free e-book that I know will also be encouraging to you! Thank you friends!