Flowers and Families

For most of my life I have struggled to keep anything alive. A plant. A pet. A human. I guess I have managed to keep myself alive but that required minimal effort.

When we moved into our home there were about 15 flower/garden beds. I was clueless on how to tend to them. What I have learned in the last four years is that it is very hard to kill perennial plants. We had many of those are yard. Tulips, lilies, daffodils, mums, hostas, just to name a few. 

The fact that I even know the word perennial and what it means is an accomplishment. I have learned how to tend to my yard from the help of my mother-in-law, my coworkers, and trustee Google searches. 

I liken this process to parenting as well. I have zero idea what I am doing. Every day is a new adventure. Trial and error constantly. As I was recently planting flowers in my yard for the upcoming summer season I was reminded how similar the methods are to keeping both flowers and small humans alive.

I read the back of the package for the wild flowers, which instructed a random scattering of the seeds. It reminded me of how parenting feels - scattered, and with seemingly no rhyme or reason. 

Sometimes I feel like I am completely on top of everything and being proactive with the progression of my children and their milestones. But most of the time I feel like a reactionary parent. All of a sudden I will realize that other children have met a particular milestone which we haven't even thought of in our house. Or, my daughter will ask me a question and I realize that maybe it's time to teach her a certain life lesson. Most of what we do is on the fly. I have learned a lot from the other mothers in my life, and Google.

The good news is: my children are doing quite well. My almost three-year old (going on 13) is so smart, much smarter than I am comfortable with sometimes. Her mind is curious about the world around her and her ability to try and manipulate her parents is developing quite nicely. And my 6 month old - well, let's just say I am glad I learned that it is hard to actually mess up your children because she is your typical second child. Slightly neglected - but wholly loved. 

I am very glad that my children are like perennial plants. It is very hard to mess them up.