Measuring Motherhood: A treatise on productivity

So many of my days seem to be filled with busyness, and yet I have nothing concrete to show for all of my hustle and bustle.  Like many parents I go to bed exhausted only to wake up and do it all over again.  I catch myself at 430 many afternoons thinking "I have to feed them dinner again? Didn't I just do that?"

I am generally okay with this hampster-on-a-wheel lifestyle because I generally enjoy the day-to-day of what I do.  Now don't get me wrong. I detest unloading the dishwasher. But I don't mind the grocery shopping and running errands and taking kids to school and tucking them in for naps and tidying things up. I love knowing that every single thing I do during the day while the kids and husband are gone, means that is one less thing we have to deal with at night or on the weekend, freeing us up for other adventures together (like yard work? Yeah, often).


That said, every now and then I have a day like today (well actually it was Thursday but I was to busy to proofread and post) that just rocks in terms of measurable productivity and it really is an ego boost.  Two cars to the shop, new tires for one, drive Husband to and from work, drive kids to and from school, Home Depot run, Lowes run, bank, nice healthy lunch at home with anna, library with the kids after school, some laundry, homemade healthy dinner that EVERYONE liked (shock), swimming, reading stories with kids, blogging this...How is it that some days we spin our wheels and it seems like we have nothing to show for it while other days we just get the stuff DONE?

How we measure our accomplishments is one of the reasons for the disconnect. Between the Lice-capades, vacation, and potty training Anna, for a few weeks it seemed all I did was pack school lunches, read stories to the kids, help with homework, do laundry, clean the house etc.  Was that any less important than getting to the bank or getting the oil changed in my car? Nope.  But it seems less important because I do it everyday. 

Today, as I sat with Anna (while she sat on the pot) I had to consciously tell myself that those 10 minutes were some of the most important spent minutes of my day. Rushing her, or being impatient, could leave such a bad impression on her (& could make the potty training so much harder).

I want my kid's memories of their childhood to be filled with joy, not feelings of being resented for having to stop and poop at the bank when mom had "so much to do".

My point is most of what we do as moms goes unnoticed & needs to be redone constantly.  But that doesn't mean it is less important as those tasks that actually get checked off the ToDo list.  This isn't a shock to you.  We KNOW this. While I feel great about my huge list of things I did today, I need to revisit how I am evaluating my daily productivity.  That is the only way I am going to be able really value my own work as a mother.  '

Anna has a tendency towards insomnia (agh).  The other night at O-dark-hundred while I was laying next to her I found myself actually thinking "I am called to do this - this is my job".  When God created this little child He KNEW that at this moment in time I would be the one she needs at her bedside.  Just as our children are created for a unique and divine purpose - we TOO are created for a unique divine purpose and we are living that out in our vocations as mothers.  

How well I do my job each day should be measured in the lessons I taught my kids, in the quality of the words I spoke to them, in the number of hugs I got and gave, in the amount of love I shared with them.  

Thanks for stopping by!