I was thinking last night how difficult it is to be a mother.
When your children are little, you are pulled to them by their complete need for you. You have no choice but to care for them 24 hours a day. You hover over them to make sure they are safe, you decide what they eat and what they wear. You clean up their messes out of both ends. Alas, you can’t help but love them completely. You hug them tight smothering them with kisses.
As they grow up, you are suddenly asked to do the opposite. Turn off the 24 hour caring, let them go, don’t tell them what to do, don’t hover over them, don’t smother them.
Is it possible to stop mothering?
But a mother has to be strong and wise. She has to learn to switch gears. She has to have just the right balance of being available but not ask too many questions, be helpful but not controlling, be proud of them but not embarrass them.
It takes great agility to be a mother.