The Mom Job

Alicia has emotionally draining days. Dealing with the tasks of raising kids and running a household is just the tip of the iceberg. My perception of Alicia's days and my limited evening and weekend experience is that the real challenge that taxes the emotional and spiritual reserves of a parent is in correcting and encouraging different attributes of human behavior. Kids are a more overt in the expression of their feelings and this can lead to a healthy dose of drama at home. I deal with some human drama at work but people are usually more restrained about it in that setting. They aren't hitting each other and sticking their tongues out. Or on the positive end of things, people in the workplace don't usually hug each other when they are sorry or chase each other around just to enjoy each other's company.

The responsibility for teaching and raising children fall to both a Mom and a Dad. But the fact is, Alicia has much more face time with the kids then I do so she gets more of the drama. This can weigh one down as emotional and spiritual reserves are drained. Such has been the case lately with Alicia. Last week she was feeling pretty empty. As we talked about it, she identified that she felt she needed to take better care of her emotional, physical and spiritual needs in order to have the strength to help the kids. So she decided to get up with me at 5:30 am every morning so she could fit in a study the scriptures, a bit of exercising and getting ready for the day before the kids got up and going.

She's two days into this new approach so far but I've noticed that she's not as exhausted as she has been. Physically she's probably more exhausted but in matters of her heart, she seems to have more to give. I see that in how much she has to talk about at the end of the day. I see that in her spending time to play with the kids. And I see that in her teaching the kids principles of good living through correction and family study of the scriptures. I am glad to be married to Alicia and am grateful for her love and care on behalf of our kids. She's a great Mom.