They Can't All Be "Teachable Moments"

Life with three boys is rarely dull.  Monotonous?  Yes.  Dull?  No.

As a work-at-home mom, I realize that my life is crazy blessed.  I have a business (I take pictures, do you need pictures taken?  Let me take your picture!) that allows me some flexibility to be home during the day with my kids and work while they are having "quiet time" or, more realistically, are being parented by PBS Kids. (Lord Jesus, bless public television, may it never be defunded.) Also, I have a husband who, as a pastor, has a pretty flexible schedule and as luck might have it, loves our kids in the "I don't call it 'babysitting' when I am parenting" woke-dad kind of way.
I am able to do things like, have my kids help when I am baking and teach them about why bread rises and why licking the chicken before it is cooked is going to make you sick and why licking the spoon and putting it back in the bowl is just disgusting.  I let them vacuum the floors with a little carpet sweeper when they spill their cereal and we do our best to make sure the legos are picked up every night before bed.  *That last part is mainly so I don't step on them when I inevitably take my 3-year-old back to bed after he wants to "snuggle." (Read: Kick us repeatedly in the ribs with his sharp toenails) 

Life is full of teachable moments and that's the main duty of a parent, right?  We are unconditionally loving teachers who praise the likes of other people who choose to be teachers so we can take a break from teaching for a few hours each day.  (If you're the kind of parent who doesn't thank the universe for teachers, stop it, you're making the rest of us look bad.)

We teach them how to say please and thank you, how to fold clothes and which drawers are for pants and which are for shirts.  We teach them how to tie their shoes and how to tell us when they have to poop.  We point out letters on a stop sign and then inevitably get honked at for spending too much time at the stop sign because our kids are learning.

But in the day to day onslaught of knowledge and hand-washing and realizing that Ready Jet Go has taught my kids more about the solar system than I know, there is one thing we need to remember: They can't all be teachable moments.

There will always be times when we need to get. stuff. done.

Sometimes the toys just need to get off the floor.  Sometimes the clothes just need to be folded correctly in under fourteen minutes because eventually, we will have to go out in public and should be dressed for such a function.  Sometimes we need to make dinner without any help because seven teaspoons of paprika is just too much and last time the cap fell off the spice jar and everything tasted .... interesting. 

So, yes, there are times I clean my boys' room because I swear their socks came in pairs and Lord help me if I have to buy another ten pack just to send them to school in matching socks.  (I am not the mismatched sock mom, I tried, I can't.) . There are times I relegate the teaching to ABC Mouse so that I can clean the stovetop since the other day there was so much dried food on our stove, my husband sliced open his finger trying to wipe it off, true story.

I will always advocate for teaching them how to make life happen for themselves, but one lesson they also need to learn is that moms get stuff done.  Eventually, they will be granted hindsight and they will realize how much they learned while emptying the dishwasher or stirring the soup or separating the toys into their bins.  The gratitude won't be immediate but hopefully, the impression will be lasting. 

Do we do it all for them?  Nope.  Do we show them the awe and wonder that is a mom rage-cleaning her house in preparation for anyone else to cross the threshold, inevitably putting the fear of God into their aim while they pee?  Yes, yes we do.