Why Motherhood Is Important

As I look back on the early years of raising five children, amidst the nine and a half years of cloth nappies and the four and a half years of non-stop breast feeding; the cooking and cleaning up of thousands of meals and the weeks of quarantine when contagious childhood illnesses infected the family; the walking and pacing thousands of kilometres and the mopping up and disinfecting thousands of urine puddles and wet sheets; the continual excitement and animation shown while reading the same story many, many times; the functioning on broken sleep for 12 years; saying "no" and answering the same questions with interest more times than I can count, I can say that without a doubt it was all worth it!
At times I experienced heartache and struggles, but within the ups and downs of day-to-day life, our children learnt the meaning of trust and faith, how to accept themselves and what they were capable of doing, both physically and emotionally, the unconditional love of others, the greater importance of relationships and experiences rather than material animated things and the awareness of their own conscious state.
I can see that my husband and I did make a difference in their development of self-control, increasing independence and self-assurance. It was the early years of experiences and consequences that opened the neural pathways within their brain. Pathways they will continue to build on throughout life. Pathways that will help shape their future.
"Sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny." Francis E Willard.
When I stood where you are today, raising a young family, I did not see or comprehend what I was embarking on. I was caught up in my own life and my own needs rather than truly realising the impact I had on my developing babies and children. The journey I have experienced and the one you will experience takes you far beyond what you know you are capable of today. You will learn, like I learnt, that disciplining wasn't for my self-gratification, but it was to create a responsible human being who was capable of making dependable choices. It is evident that you cannot earn your child's trust as a teenager unless they have learnt to develop trust from having a loving and secure relationship with you during their early developing years. This relationship begins at birth, is vitally important during the first hour after birth and the first year of life.
Your child continues to develop both emotionally and physically during every experience of their life and you do make a difference.

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