“If mothers could do for themselves…”

Today was one of those days. I knew it before breakfast was over. As I stood at the sink washing dishes, and praying that the Lord would give me what I needed to teach all of these kids, a phrase ran through my head: “if mothers could do for themselves what they do for their children when they are overdone…”

I knew Charlotte had gotten into my head again. 

“If mothers could do for themselves what they do for their children when they are overdone, we should have happier households. Let the mother go out to play! If she would have the courage to let everything go when life becomes too tense…[everything would be better!]

 

-Charlotte Mason, School Education

You can imagine that life here right now doesn’t have the ability to “let everything go”. So I did a little variation of that plan. The kids were very pleased. Mom was nice again.

While trying to find the quote above, I stumbled across this. Painfully, it may be (alright, it IS) part of why this has been such a rough week.

“…let not the nervous, anxious, worried mother think that this easy, happy relation with her children is for her. She may be the best mother in the world, but the thing that her children will get from her in these vexed moods is a touch of her nervousness-most catching of complaints.

She will find them fractious, rebellious, unmanageable, and will be slow to realize it is her fault; not the fault of her act, but of her state.”

 

-Charlotte Mason, School Education (Volume 3) p.33

Well. Here’s to a better next week.