~ What if Mom gets sick? ~

Yep, you guessed it. I have been yucky sick. Usually I can still post something, but not the past two days. While I should just be lying in bed, quietly feeling nauseated while my head pounds in staccato with my heartbeat, I feel too guilty to just lay around.

So I get up, overly tax myself, and presto! I am feeling really crummy again.

If you are a mom, you know exactly what I mean. 

I really don’t need to be out on the couch in the family room to make sure life goes smoothly. Self-teaching lends itself to having the children do stuff on their own without being told what to do every moment of every day. This goes for both the home and school arenas. Self-teaching encompasses life! But I feel guilty leaving the work for someone else to do even on days like today.

Now, we are not “SuperFamily” by any means. To prove it I will tell you that nobody signed up for chores yesterday because I didn’t happen to mention it. But the basics got covered, (and I know where I need to focus on the domestic front, don’t I?)

While I did lay in the bed all afternoon today, yard work got done, housework got done, supper got cooked, and two loads of laundry were run…all without me having to raise my voice.

I even had several children stick their heads in my room and ask if they could get anything for me. That is always such a blessing.

Here is my point:

If you have children over the age of ten, they should be able to keep the wheels in motion – even just slow motion – if Mom is sick or gone for a few days.

Do not be indispensible!

I well remember after having baby # 7 the realization that my family didn’t really *need* me to survive anymore.  The children had grown to where they were able to shoulder much of the household responsibilities.  While independence is what I am always working towards with my children’s hearts, I suddenly saw that they could get along without me. Zap! It was a lightning moment!

Of course being in the throes of post-partum depression, I cried a river about not being needed, (except that nobody else could nurse my baby so maybe I was needed for the next nine months or so…)

BUT today I rejoiced that life can go on without Mom being present to tell everyone what to do or do it all herself. Whew! It has been a job teaching this to my children over the years, but I was able to rest today as a result.

So if you (Mom) get sick or are unable to do your regular routine for a while, would your family be able to carry on ~ or at least limp along ~ without you? I hope so. If not, you owe it to yourself to make it so, step by step. You deserve rest when you need it or even when you don’t absolutely need it.

Just a little something to think about.