by Carole Devine

Created on: April 09, 2010   Last Updated: April 12, 2010

With parents and children alike these days being over-scheduled on all fronts, motherhood can at times feel more like a chore than a joy.  It seems that we hardly have time to breathe let alone relax as we try to juggle work, our children’s academic and extra curricular calendars, and our domestic responsibilities. It is easy to feel stressed and exhausted by the constant demands of parenthood, forgetting that, along with great responsibility, motherhood can bring a sense of fulfillment to a woman’s life that is quite unlike anything else that we’ll ever experience.  This can easily elude us as we follow the mundane routines of our everyday lives, but, if we are to find happiness in our role as mothers, we need to be conscious of how quickly time passes and children grow.  While parenthood, by its nature, involves sacrifice, frustration and anxiety, it equally involves joy, hope and wonder and, like all things, the best moments pass much too quickly. As with all transforming endeavors, enjoying motherhood and, therefore, being a happier mom, involves a bit of conscious effort on our parts. The first step to being a happier mom is to remind ourselves, daily if necessary, of the fleeting nature of life itself. 

Carpe diem

Nothing will go by faster than your children’s youth, and the sooner you realize how precious these moments are, the better.  While being a parent can be overwhelming at times, try to take a minute or two each day to remind yourself that these are, as Billy Joel so poignantly sang, ‘the times to remember, cause they will not last forever.’ Whether your child wants you to jump on the trampoline with him or play house with her, try to find time in your busy schedule to indulge them once in awhile.  You won’t be able to do this every time and you shouldn’t expect yourself to always be able to drop everything for fun and games, but every now and then, give it a try.  In twenty years, you’ll never remember all the times you folded laundry, but you will remember the times you let yourself go and got silly with your kids.  And they will remember too.

Stop Comparing Yourself to Other Moms

While this may seem impossible, try to free yourself from the trap of keeping up with whomever you may think are the ‘perfect’ mothers around you.  There is no perfect mother and no perfect way to mother.  While your neighbor may seem to have everything

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