This is SO hard!

This is SO hard!

It is hard to live it, it is hard to admit it, it is hard to feel these feelings!

Raising kids can be SO hard! I remember everyone telling me about the terrible two's and how teenagers will kill ya!

But I have to say that raising tweens is exhausting!

Don't get me wrong I wouldn't give it up for anything. I love my kids more than anything in this entire world. But I take my job as a mom very seriously! It seems tweens are stuck in this odd place of not being a little kid but they really haven't figured out who they are and it is so easy to fall in line to follow others (some of which we wish they wouldn't).

I know it is my job to teach them about God, life, manners, treating others the way we want to be treated.

I know it is my job to teach them how to care for themselves, how to wash dishes so they can do it when they move out, how to sweep, mop, dust so their future home is not nasty. It is my job to teach them how much laundry detergent to use to get their clothes clean but not too much to be wasteful.

I know it is my job to teach them how to feel good about themselves without seeking it from outside influences. It is my job to teach them to build self-esteem but to have internal drive to do even better!

It is my job to get the truth from them without breaking their spirit totally.

It is an exhausting job! It is my most serious job!

I understand how some parents want to check out. Is it easier to turn a blind eye? Maybe for a second but I don't believe in the end.

It is exhausting. Some times I just think, please let's make it through the day without an incident, without me having to dig to get answers, without attitude.

That is probably not going to happen. And that IS OK. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I remind myself that there is no greater gift from God than my children. What a blessing and miracle each one of them are.

Sometimes I have to repeat this several times. And sometimes I am reminded some animals eat their young.

To all my other mothers of tweens - WE WILL MAKE IT!

To all my other mothers of toddlers - WATCH OUT!