Proactive Mothering, part 1
My January 2013 book choice is "Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood" by Jamie C. Martin. A mom of 3 young kiddos, Martin also authors an inspirational blog called Steady Mom.
I'm not quite finished with the book yet (don't remind me I only have a few days left in January!) But so far, what I've taken away from Martin's book is that proactivity lies at the foundation of intentional and professional motherhood. Martin offers simple and achievable techniques to creating, from my perspective, a proactive home environment.
My American Heritage Dictionary (whoa, I just used a book off my bookshelf!) defines the adjective proactive as: "acting in advance to deal with an expected difficulty; anticipatory."
After beginning to read this book one of my sub-goals for this year came into a clearer picture. I already want to be more"intentional in my relationships" with my husband, my sisters, my friends, my mom...the list goes on this year;) But with respect to our toddler, what I really want is to be what I call a proactive mother.
Because, let me tell you, the days that I resent being a stay at home mom the most are the days when all I've done is react to the needs of a demanding toddler...nothing seems to get done but cater to her wants and needs...I didn't have time to exercise or shower...we didn't finger paint another masterpiece or even read a book...
I'm not hoping for a perfect year of "no bad days'. But I am hoping to make more good and less resentful memories this year. Because as I've already written, I am the bloom's keeper. I've only got a few formative years with our sweet sugar bean before she's off and running the rat race...
As a family friend once told me about being a stay at home mom to little ones, "what you're doing is important. you're creating a good citizen"...I should put that on the window in my kitchen!
So, what's the first step to being a proactive mom?!!
Well, according to Martin it's getting organized...don't cringe away yet! She breaks it all down into manageable bites and starts organization off with the most important aspect of your life: your daily routine! She recommends you create a "steady routine", a gentle structure for each day of the week so you're no longer (only) reacting to the needs of the toddler all day long.
And unfortunately my new "steady routine" is about to start. So I'm going to have to stop here and write part 2 later!
But I'll leave you with this quote from Martin's book...it's now written on my "steady routine"...
I'm not quite finished with the book yet (don't remind me I only have a few days left in January!) But so far, what I've taken away from Martin's book is that proactivity lies at the foundation of intentional and professional motherhood. Martin offers simple and achievable techniques to creating, from my perspective, a proactive home environment.
My American Heritage Dictionary (whoa, I just used a book off my bookshelf!) defines the adjective proactive as: "acting in advance to deal with an expected difficulty; anticipatory."
After beginning to read this book one of my sub-goals for this year came into a clearer picture. I already want to be more"intentional in my relationships" with my husband, my sisters, my friends, my mom...the list goes on this year;) But with respect to our toddler, what I really want is to be what I call a proactive mother.
Because, let me tell you, the days that I resent being a stay at home mom the most are the days when all I've done is react to the needs of a demanding toddler...nothing seems to get done but cater to her wants and needs...I didn't have time to exercise or shower...we didn't finger paint another masterpiece or even read a book...
I'm not hoping for a perfect year of "no bad days'. But I am hoping to make more good and less resentful memories this year. Because as I've already written, I am the bloom's keeper. I've only got a few formative years with our sweet sugar bean before she's off and running the rat race...
As a family friend once told me about being a stay at home mom to little ones, "what you're doing is important. you're creating a good citizen"...I should put that on the window in my kitchen!
So, what's the first step to being a proactive mom?!!
Well, according to Martin it's getting organized...don't cringe away yet! She breaks it all down into manageable bites and starts organization off with the most important aspect of your life: your daily routine! She recommends you create a "steady routine", a gentle structure for each day of the week so you're no longer (only) reacting to the needs of the toddler all day long.
And unfortunately my new "steady routine" is about to start. So I'm going to have to stop here and write part 2 later!
But I'll leave you with this quote from Martin's book...it's now written on my "steady routine"...
The secret of all victory lies in the organiztion of the non-obvious.
-Marcus Aurelius
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