Mother’s Day Reflections

Happy Mother’s Day a few days late! If your house was anything like mine over the weekend, you may still be recuperating. We were busy (to say the least) and in the midst of all the preparations and visiting I learned a very important lesson from my 7 year old daughter, Carmen. Carmen is quiet, but she notices every little thing. She can hurry through a room and stop suddenly to say “Mom, is that a new table cloth?” and she’s the first to notice a change in hair color or cut. When she has something to say, I try to really listen because she has an interesting perspective on things. More on that in a moment.

My mother in law is staying with us while convalescing from joint replacement surgery so it just made sense to host Mother’s Day at our house. Hosting meant a bit of work (especially since I play organ and was scheduled to play two services Sunday morning) but it was a great way to see everyone without the stress of eating in a restaurant. I planned something fairly easy since we were feeding 12 adults and 6 children. Saturday morning, I headed to the market with my 3 children (Carmen 7, Andre 5, and Breccan 7 months). We bought whole wheat buns, locally grown produce, and dye free pastries. We talked about making wise food choices and we headed home to grill up our grass fed beef patties and pork brats made from animals we raised ourselves. This isn’t something we do occasionally, it’s how we live. We don’t give it much thought most of the time.

Mother’s Day was a delightful time of love, laughter, and food a plenty! After our company left, Carmen pulled me aside and was full of questions:
• Mom, why don’t our cousins drink our milk? Don’t they know raw milk is better than store bought milk?
• Mom, why do people drink soda? You say it’s bad for us, isn’t it bad for them?
• Mom, there was a lady at church wearing high heels. Aren’t those yucky for her back?
• Mom, some people use throw away diapers, isn’t that terrible?

It was at that moment I realized I had been so busy teaching my children about our way of life I had forgotten to teach them about acceptance. Luckily, Carmen was paying attention and brought this to me early. I gathered both older children and we chatted about how people doing things differently didn’t mean one was wrong and one was right – they’re just different. (Somehow this encompassed a very short lived conversation about being cremated as well – not sure how that happened?) We ended our little chat by agreeing on the following:

Everyone’s parents and families are doing the best they can and as long as something is done in the spirit of love, it is done right.

Now it’s your turn. Please leave a comment about this post or answer one of the questions below:

What is something you do at your house that might be different than how other people do things?

What about self-publishing versus traditional publishing, is one wrong and one is right or can we agree both are done in the spirit of love and both are right?

What lessons have you learned through children?



Crystal is a church musician, business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Reedsville, Wisconsin with her husband, three young children (Carmen 7, Andre 5, Breccan 7 months), two dogs, two rabbits, four little piggies, and over 200 Holsteins. You can find Crystal blogging and reviewing books and all sorts of other stuff at: http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/