As summertime approaches, I am feeling more and more stress. What?! Why!? Summer is my time off from work, the time when I can focus on being a mom, without the daily stresses of my other job. But, summer brings with it many challenges, some of which I am not ready to face.
Summer brings change. Change in our schedule and routine. Change in our sleeping and eating habits and in our daily activities. While this change may be welcome for some in our family, this type of change is very difficult for O. Routine and structure help him cope. When those things that have become constants change, the unpredictability is killer. I mean, he has trouble when you give him the wrong plate at dinner or when you ask him to pull up his pants before he flushes the toilet. Can you imagine how he feels when mom isn’t going to work and sisters aren’t going to school everyday? While he loves having us around, it makes things confusing and different. And, different is difficult for him.Summer also brings projects, tasks that I have put off, thinking that they would be easier accomplished in the summer. One thing I’ve put off is working on O’s eating habits. I would really like for him to try new foods, so that he’s not eating the same three or four things everyday. This will be a long process, since he does not even leave unwanted food items on his plate, let alone put them near his mouth. Although I have been collecting ideas on how to approach these food issues and I know it needs to be done, it’s not something that I am looking forward to.
Summer brings swim lessons, Vacation Bible School, family vacation, more time in the car, a month off of preschool…the list goes on. There’s also the challenge of occupying three very different children with entertaining activities, that are educational and not too overwhelming. Why have I not started planning or preparing for any of these things? I am trying to take it one day at a time. Unfortunately, I am running out those days…summer will be here soon.
When I first wrote this post, I had no resolution. Just stress. Later, this verse came to me. I have been rehearsing it in my mind ever since.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed.
- 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
Now, even though my issues are nowhere near resolved, I have a renewed sense of hope and am confident that I am not in this alone!
Comments
Jenny from the Block
I agree! I am going through the same thing with the whole summer change of routine triggering issues with my kids. I feel like I should be doing more or trying harder to get a routine going, but I seem incapable of having a routine anything like school would provide and give up. I LOVE how you ended it, great Bible quote…need a little hope. Good luck!