I'd like to take a moment to pause and reflect on how good we as mothers of this day and age truly have it... Naturally speaking. It's true, we face one of the toughest spiritual battles of all time as the world continues in its downward spiral of sin and death, dragging into deception with it practically every child who is not raised in an ever watchful, wise, God-submitted home. This is the greatest "woe" for a modern day parent. But honestly, it is our ONLY woe.
We can be quick to complain that our car isn't good enough, or even that we don't have one although our local supermarket and school is a 10 min walk Max from us anyway. We can feel hard done by because the cost of living is rising and we have to take time and effort to budget carefully, meal plan, go without a haircut or manicure and/or settle for a smaller house than would be convenient. We can have discussions with other mothers about the difficulty of taking the kids food shopping, and the car trips that leave us hot and bothered when there is arguing or niggling in the backseat etc.
Fact is, we mothers of today are spoilt brats. Oh yes, we are. In comparison to even our own mothers, in-laws and grandmothers let alone those before them. I could go far back enough to point out the obvious, that we now have washing machines instead of scrubbing boards, refrigerators instead of DAILY trips to the butcher and baker, reticulation systems Instead of watering cans, cars instead of horse and cart or walking and on it goes. And that would be enough I would hope to make us get over ourselves and see how good we have it. But let's bring it forward a little so that we see that even little changes, have made a big difference that we take for granted.
Your mother, or at least grandmother, may very well have NOT had a car for at least a period of time in your childhood. There walk to kindi or store was most likely alot longer than ten mins, come rain or shine that 20min - 1hr walk was how it was. Then, when and IF they got a car, it would not have had air conditioning. Not their first family car anyway. So while we complain about those hot and bothersome trips because the air con isn't working as it should, we would do well to remember that mumma used to have to pack wet flannels and an ice pack, lots of drinks and hope the kids didn't just cry all the way coz of the heat.
How about food shopping? Not only do we have an abundance of options at our fingertips to make our shopping less expensive though prices are high... We also have trolleys that fit both infants in lying down position and toddler in seating next to each other... A far cry from the not so long ago one-seat arrangement and just figure it out for the other kid/s. Plus, we are able to order our entire grocery list online and have it delivered to us almost anywhere!!! How much better do we want??
Throw in the convenience of dishwashers, eBay and gumtree, portable DVD players, pre-packaged healthy snacks, mobile phones, Australian government family help-money, baby bonus and the plethora of other conveniences that weren't around not so long ago for mums and it's safe to say... We have it (materially) easier than any other generation of mothers ever.
All our jobs are cut down in time by at least half with modern technology yet we still seem to have no time... Maybe that's because we cram up our lives with way too much. Prioritizing and culling things that are time-wasters will see to it that there is in actual fact alot more time than we thought. If grandma could still find time to have a ladies brunch with her church friends after caring for 5 kids, walking to and from her destinations and cleaning the old fashioned way, we sure as anything can find time to take our kids to the park, or have a special dinner with our husbands, or visit our good old granny's.
We have Internet access to answer billions of questions, from "toxic-free ways to clean out an oven" to "troubleshooting washing machine model simpson 2B5411". We dont have to wait for answers, or make lots of phone calls when something goes wrong with an appliance. We have access to zillions of recipes and at the click of a button we can bring up free sermons to feed our spirits on any subject imaginable. Is there much the Internet can't do?
Indeed we have it alot easier than the women who went before us. And yes, there are some things that never change. Children will still try our patience (and lipsticks when we aren't looking), it is still near impossible to get chocolate stains out of the carpet if not dealt with quick enough, Friends will still call with dramas and need your attention, PMS will still come at inconvenient times, allergies and injuries still happen, some husbands will still forget important dates and hurt your feelings, at times you will still fall short when it comes to being that ideal homemaker you want to be, your still going to face challenges of all kinds as a wife and mother... But it's always very humbling to note how good we have it compared to other generations. It just stops us from falling into self pity when our days are full and long.
So next time your dishwasher doesn't wash a few items well enough and you have to pull them out and DIY, don't forget that was the norm not so long ago. Next time your mobile phone cuts out after being on hold to the insurance company for half an hour, or your Internet page randomly closes down after you've almost finished a lengthy online form, take a deep breath and remember our mum or Nanna had to actually go And take a trip to the companys office/store and stand in line with the kids to deal with that same enquiry.
Ah yes the attributes of thankfulness and being grateful. It really is a blessed thing to look in comparison and be content.
We can be quick to complain that our car isn't good enough, or even that we don't have one although our local supermarket and school is a 10 min walk Max from us anyway. We can feel hard done by because the cost of living is rising and we have to take time and effort to budget carefully, meal plan, go without a haircut or manicure and/or settle for a smaller house than would be convenient. We can have discussions with other mothers about the difficulty of taking the kids food shopping, and the car trips that leave us hot and bothered when there is arguing or niggling in the backseat etc.
Fact is, we mothers of today are spoilt brats. Oh yes, we are. In comparison to even our own mothers, in-laws and grandmothers let alone those before them. I could go far back enough to point out the obvious, that we now have washing machines instead of scrubbing boards, refrigerators instead of DAILY trips to the butcher and baker, reticulation systems Instead of watering cans, cars instead of horse and cart or walking and on it goes. And that would be enough I would hope to make us get over ourselves and see how good we have it. But let's bring it forward a little so that we see that even little changes, have made a big difference that we take for granted.
Your mother, or at least grandmother, may very well have NOT had a car for at least a period of time in your childhood. There walk to kindi or store was most likely alot longer than ten mins, come rain or shine that 20min - 1hr walk was how it was. Then, when and IF they got a car, it would not have had air conditioning. Not their first family car anyway. So while we complain about those hot and bothersome trips because the air con isn't working as it should, we would do well to remember that mumma used to have to pack wet flannels and an ice pack, lots of drinks and hope the kids didn't just cry all the way coz of the heat.
How about food shopping? Not only do we have an abundance of options at our fingertips to make our shopping less expensive though prices are high... We also have trolleys that fit both infants in lying down position and toddler in seating next to each other... A far cry from the not so long ago one-seat arrangement and just figure it out for the other kid/s. Plus, we are able to order our entire grocery list online and have it delivered to us almost anywhere!!! How much better do we want??
Throw in the convenience of dishwashers, eBay and gumtree, portable DVD players, pre-packaged healthy snacks, mobile phones, Australian government family help-money, baby bonus and the plethora of other conveniences that weren't around not so long ago for mums and it's safe to say... We have it (materially) easier than any other generation of mothers ever.
All our jobs are cut down in time by at least half with modern technology yet we still seem to have no time... Maybe that's because we cram up our lives with way too much. Prioritizing and culling things that are time-wasters will see to it that there is in actual fact alot more time than we thought. If grandma could still find time to have a ladies brunch with her church friends after caring for 5 kids, walking to and from her destinations and cleaning the old fashioned way, we sure as anything can find time to take our kids to the park, or have a special dinner with our husbands, or visit our good old granny's.
We have Internet access to answer billions of questions, from "toxic-free ways to clean out an oven" to "troubleshooting washing machine model simpson 2B5411". We dont have to wait for answers, or make lots of phone calls when something goes wrong with an appliance. We have access to zillions of recipes and at the click of a button we can bring up free sermons to feed our spirits on any subject imaginable. Is there much the Internet can't do?
Indeed we have it alot easier than the women who went before us. And yes, there are some things that never change. Children will still try our patience (and lipsticks when we aren't looking), it is still near impossible to get chocolate stains out of the carpet if not dealt with quick enough, Friends will still call with dramas and need your attention, PMS will still come at inconvenient times, allergies and injuries still happen, some husbands will still forget important dates and hurt your feelings, at times you will still fall short when it comes to being that ideal homemaker you want to be, your still going to face challenges of all kinds as a wife and mother... But it's always very humbling to note how good we have it compared to other generations. It just stops us from falling into self pity when our days are full and long.
So next time your dishwasher doesn't wash a few items well enough and you have to pull them out and DIY, don't forget that was the norm not so long ago. Next time your mobile phone cuts out after being on hold to the insurance company for half an hour, or your Internet page randomly closes down after you've almost finished a lengthy online form, take a deep breath and remember our mum or Nanna had to actually go And take a trip to the companys office/store and stand in line with the kids to deal with that same enquiry.
Ah yes the attributes of thankfulness and being grateful. It really is a blessed thing to look in comparison and be content.
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