Lessons being a mom taught me....

Contrary to what I thought my inclinations were motherhood came very naturally to me. Over the years I have realized being a mom has taught me a lot, thought I would share some of them with you. I know its not a one size fits all type of thing but most moms I think will agree

Newborn babies do not look like the ones in they show in commercials.No mom falls giddily in love with her recently delivered offspring at first sight [ unless u woke 4 hours later from your c-section and the baby has been all cleaned up]. The first thought usually is that came out of my body, that wrinkly tadpole.

The cry of a baby is the most heart wrenching sound known to mankind. There is nothing I would not have traded to make Rule Bender to stop crying that night when he came down with a horrific ear infection.

Which brings me to the next lesson. Nothing makes a mom feel more helpless that her child in pain or sickness. I would in a heartbeat be willing to takeover if I could every sorrow or sickness my child will ever encounter.

Every child needs someone to make it feel super special, to make him/her realize that there is someone in this world who loves him/her to pieces. A child with a healthy self esteem is always sucessful in life.

Albeit unwillingly we pass on our own prejudices to our kids. They do not have to be major flaws; Straight LIne and Rule Bender both do not like to eat eggplants or pumpkins because I don't like them. I have never in so many words told them not to like them but they kind of just acquired the distaste. This goes on to just illustrate that I do shape their likes and dislikes. Somewhere in my future is a eggplant loving daughter-in-law cursing me for raising my son to hate eggplants.

Kids base their relationships on how we base our relationships. If we dodge phone calls and speak white lies on the phone they assume its ok to lie sometimes. If I speak ill of my mother in law in their presence they will not respect her.Whether I like to or not I influence their relationship with everybody in this world so I have to think twice before I voice an opinion in front of them.

Kids are quick learners. They quickly learn to adapt their actions to my reactions. So the next time Straight Line giggles at two teenagers kissing and I scold him for it he will not stop giggling he just won't do it in my presence. I have trained myself not to over react to situations but to take many things in the stride.

My kids do not need me to be their best friends. They need me to be their mother. Even if they do not like when I say something and there a lot of things I say [ Do not eat raw sugar from the sachets, do not smell each other butts, do not put the idli [steamed indian rice cake] into my CD drive] they know eventually that I can be trusted to keep them out of trouble. It is when you try and get over pally with the kids that you lose the authority to discpline them.

Kids need rules, infact they love rules as long as they are consistent and fair. The rule may not be fair to them at that very moment but as long as it is consistent they will accept it. So hitting, lying, screaming, finishing a complete box of chocolates in one sitting are never ever ok and there are no loopholes to this.

Well these are the serious lessons I gathered tomorrow I am doing a whole set of hilarious lessons I also found out starting with how being a mom meant never having a peaceful bath so check back for the part deux of this...