You Take Too Long

Does this sounds familiar to YOU, Mommy?

"You take too long."

Do you hear a little voice telling you, "you take too long" while you're in the bathroom?

When you're getting breakfast, lunch and dinner together..."you take too long."

"You take too long" when you're folding clothes, cleaning up the spilled yogurt/water/milk/ juice/poop/pee/throw up/etc. that has been there way too long already...

"You take too long" when your little ones are tugging at you, asking you to sit and watch TV or play with them.

​How do you feel when you hear this?

I bet you are already hauling a$$ to get food ready for a school-aged child, a toddler, and maybe even one that's a baby-baby. They all eat different stuff too, don't they? 

And have you been working all day? I'm sure you have, Mommy...

And when do you get to eat? After you've bribed the toddler?  You've barely gotten your (now cold) food on a plate and are sitting down to join the kids to eat when everyone else is getting up because they finished...

As if you weren't a busy working mom already...

and if you're lucky to be still be employed in COVID-19 times...

you've had an additional role in your quarantined world: homeschool teacher!

and you thought you were busy before the coronavirus threw the world into a panic!

My toddler keeps saying, "Mommy, you take too long" when I'm trying to grade my daughter's homework. It's a lot of schoolwork while the kids are being homeschooled...

I am fortunate enough to keep working, but at this point, I still have to go to work physically. No online for me yet (hopefully coming soon).

I have worked all day long. I came home and now I'm trying to grade all the papers that my daughter did during the day (at home with Dad).

As I'm grading 3rd grade math (btw, since when is algebra 3rd grade math?) while my toddler keeps waiting for my attention.

He just wants me to sit down with him. He's saying, "Hurry up. Hurry up, Mommy. You take too long."

He's been telling me "you take too long" often as we have been trying to navigate the new roles of our quarantined lives:

who stays home with the kids?

who teaches them? at what time/part of day or evening? 

who can still go to work? 

how can we work from home?

how can we keep our business going?

who is able to shop for supplies, food, without taking the kids to decrease their exposure risk? 

As we continue to create our new schedule, our new routine, our new temporary (although extended) normal, I want you to know that you are not alone. 

The stress, the grief, the confusion, the messy home, the school work piled on top of your company laptop on top of a busy table...

We are ALL experiencing this across the WORLD.

Talk about unity...

So how do we even start to handle this?

First off, give yourself GRACE...

allow you and your family to breathe...

Secondly, it's OKAY if the dishes, laundry, homework, etc. aren't perfect...

You WILL get better at this, you WILL see what is most important in your life.

Let "okay" be good enough for the minor things, let "good enough" be good enough for where it's appropriate, and do your best where it's needed.

Love on each other, connect through technology, and play in the backyard.

We are STRONG together, we are STRONG in His love.

Do not fear, but be present in every moment. One step at a time...