Encouragement for my friends

Let's sit on the metaphorical couch and drink our pretend cup of coffee and discuss things deep in our heart for a second. Here's what's in mine. It's something I articulated a long time ago on Facebook, but I've been wanting to shout from the rooftops lately:

So ... dear friends young and old, married/"partnered", single, and all the other categories my colorful friends' may include ;-) (and particularly moms of older children):

You'd be surprised how deeply uplifting it is for a mom of young kids to hear SINCERE encouragement/positive feedback from you. Things like "You are doing an awesome job" and "They are not going to grow up to be serial killers, I can tell!" and "You are the perfect mom for these type of kids!" etc. The"young kids/babies season" is tough on a woman's identity, marriage, and life in general. One sincere/helpful comment just to let her know "Everything's gonna be alright, just breathe" can turn a suffocatingly dark day into a bright, hope-filled one. 

Your words can help frame her inadequacies with grace. 

Just sayin'.

What's in your heart pertaining to motherhood today?


JMillerFam said...

could NOT agree more with this. When we found out we were having our third boy, I wrapped my heart around the idea...started falling in love and then would hear people's comments 'Oh man you are in for it....You are going to have your hands full....Oh I bet you were so disappointed. " How do you even respond to these types of remarks? BUT you're right....when you hear uplifting words like "God created you to mother sons....or you are going to have SO much fun laughing for years and years to come..." it just goes a long way.

Monica Flores said...

Well said! I appreciated it the day you originally posted it on FB and it is ever true today!

amock1229 said...

Before I got married (18mo ago) I had been raising 2 boys as a single mom for 10yrs. When I would people would hear that the comments were usually negative... However there were a few times when women much older than me would say how great little boys are and I have one example where a woman and her husband walked over to our table at restaurant looked at each of my boys and said "I have never seen such well behaved quiet boys, you are doing a great job with them" then proceeded to give each of them 50 cents for the gumball machines. Now that my guys are getting close to the tween yrs I find myself encouraging young moms whether it be in the grocery store, the mall, or even a restaurant. It actually makes ME feel better too!