Untying the Apron Strings

I've learned that it is a good thing to have mentors. We have mentors for different areas. We have some mentors for our finances. We, obviously, couldn't figure that one out correctly on our own.:) We have spiritual accountability people (that I feel are like mentors because they have amazing walks with the Lord). I have upline ladies that are mentors for me in my business. I even have a lovely lady that I feel is like a mentor mom for me. (I actually have several great ladies in this category, my mom and mom-in-law included.) I guess I like to draw from a lot of life experience when trying to figure out the best way for me to be the best I can. This mentor mom used to tell us all the time to "untie the apron strings" with our kids when the time was right. "Age appropriate," she would say,"untie those apron strings," with all the kindness of a grandmother and the sweetness of the Lord. What she meant by this is that we have to let our kids experience life for themselves. They won't learn very well if we try to do everything for them--even though it may seem easier at the time. For example, Aidan is finally learning to tie his shoes. It's not his fault that we have waited until he is almost 6. They just don't make many kids' shoes with ties anymore. They have zippers and Velcro and elastic, but very few have laces! (If my biological father were alive, I could hear him saying that is because "they" are trying to dumb down kids in America...but that's a blog for another day.) Aidan is really picking up the whole shoe tying thing rather quickly. We practice a couple times a day, because I told him that he will have to tie his own shoes if they come undone at school. He is so cute to watch his little fingers make the loop and wrap it around. He gets a little carried away with the wrapping around, but he'll get there. Untie the apron strings... Every morning he wakes up before I do. That is the one time of day that he really gets to watch his cartoons. He is definitely Daddy's boy in that respect--they both enjoy watching TV. Of course, he is just famished by morning time because he is a growing boy. He has learned how to get his own bowl and how to tell if the dishes in the dishwasher are clean--and even how to pour the milk himself. Untie the apron strings... It used to freak me out to hear him getting in the fridge to pour the milk himself, but he learned that if he sets the bowl on the floor he can pour without making too much of a mess. He knows how to clean up a mess, too. That was one of the first things I taught him when he started walking--he knows where the towels are. Even Breanna knows that one now, too. Untie the apron strings... It's so fun to watch them grow up, but at the same time it scares me to death! It's a comfort (and a bit disheartening) to know that kids are very resilient. They can overcome and recover from a lot and still turn out "fine". Just about everyone I know--that knows the Lord--has come from a dysfunctional family of one sort or another. It's a fallen world. It's inevitable. But for the grace of God... we would be so lost. My point to all of this is that our kids need us. My kids need me. Yes, they learn so much every day! But they still have a long way to go. For that matter, I still have a long way to go. It is so fun and terrifying to be almost completely responsible for the entire knowledge and spiritual foundation that is taught to my kids. That's what is going to carry them throughout their whole lives and into eternity! No pressure. I heard a lady on the radio one time say that to be a mother is not just about wiping bottoms and noses--it's about nurturing an eternal soul. Again, no pressure.

P.S. Thank you, God, for the rain last night. I didn't really want to mow the yard today!:)