motherhood is boring?

I just read this article about a woman who states her children "bore her to death".

And I get what she is saying. But, she has one crucial point TOTALLY wrong. Because even though mothering children can be, and often is, boring, the children themselves are most certainly not!

There is a crucial difference between the work of mothering (making sandwiches, dressing, bathing, diapering) and being a mother. Though the work is certainly often a lot more tedious than many mothers would admit, the children themselves are not!

Our children are delightful to us because we bother to delight in them. Often, though not always, this delighting walks hand in hand with hard work and tedium. It is dressed up in everydayness, hidden in hard work. This delighting erupts spontaneously in the mundane tasks of motherhood: blowing raspberries on our babies tummies while we dress them. The fit of giggles that follows. The look of love in our little one's eyes as we take care of them, doing for them what the simply cannot do for themselves. And isn’t that in itself, a great honour? Caring for someone utterly dependent?

So far, raising a child is indeed the most difficult and arduous thing I have ever done. But like every other difficult thing I have done I understand this about it: if there's no effort, there's no reward. A lot of things would be “boring” if we didn’t put any time or effort in.

I think if we “work hard” at parenting, we realize this: all the work, all the tedium, all the 'boring parenting' is more than worth it. Because if we take the time and make the effort to delight in our children, we will find them delightful. But if we don't, we won't.

outfit details (what is this, a fashion blog? ;-)

shirt, thrifted: $3
shorts, thrifted: $1
belt, from a skirt
shoes, thrifted: $1
scarf, from Hornby Island: $15
glasses, vera wang, via clearlycontacts.ca

Heart: Kimberellie

“We always get bored with those whom we bore.” Francois de la Rochefoucauld