I think every Mom should celebrate Mommy Independence Day. This should be a day on the calendar every year in which the Mom gets to celebrate all the things she no longer has to do for her kids. I mean they do have National Peanut Butter Lover’s day and National Cheese Doodle day so why not? The end of wiping bottoms would top this list of celebrations. I know every time my kids have reached a milestone, I celebrated with a great big Hallelujah! Here’s some of the milestones we can celebrate with glee:
1.) When the kids can put on their own shoes. Especially when they can tie them themselves. Of course, it won’t be perfect (laces will frequently be untied), but we no longer have to do it – we can bark at them to do it – woohoo!
2.) When the kids can put on their own clothes. Especially when they can pick them out themselves and not look like street walkers (but I guess this might adjust again when they become teenagers where it seems the goal is to look like a street walker at times). Not my kids, I’ll have to start picking out their clothes again if it comes to that. My husband doesn’t even like them to wear the leggings that are so popular these days. My daughter was horrified the time she tried to wear leggings with a “not long enough” sweater and my husband told her to put on some “real pants”. :-p
3.) When the kids can go on the potty. The downside to this is that you will spend way more time than you want to in public restrooms which is disgusting. Every time you run an errand, you hear the dreaded, “Mommy, I have to use the potty!”. Or, “Mommy, I need a drink of water!” which you refuse because you know it will lead to having to go to the potty. In fact, I just stopped drinking water altogether when I became a Mom because I didn’t want to have to take the kids to the public restroom – Moms don’t have time to use the restroom. :-/ And I am still traumatized by the time I took my kids to the restroom only to have my 2 year old dig in the little maxi pad trash can. “Look mommy!” I’ll never forget that – I’m sure we all have our own horror stories about public restrooms, right? :-p
4.) When the kids can feed themselves. And then, comes the even better milestone of them actually liking food! Hallelujah! My oldest started liking food at about age 8. My middle child is starting also to like food and she’s 8 so maybe 8 is the magic number? There’s hope everyone! Of course, they still have their quirks with food but overall they are so hungry they will eat most things – woohoo!
5.) When the kids are able to make their own sandwich. And then, comes the even better milestone of them being able to make their own sandwich without creating a beach (sandy beach made of bread crumbs) in the kitchen.
6.) When the kids learn to read. And then comes the enjoying reading milestone. This one is amazing! Now, they can entertain themselves! But, if you have multiple kids, they always seem to act at the lowest common denominator so I assume that you won’t get the full benefits of this until the youngest one really gets into reading. Our youngest wants her siblings to play all the time with her and they can’t catch a break, so they only get to read at bedtime and when the youngest is occupied. :-/
7.) When the kids are able to reach the sink to wash their hands. This was a big one for me because I have had back problems and nothing seems to aggravate the back more than picking up wiggly kids who can’t seem to wash the soap off just right, etc. “Mommy, my hands are still sticky from soap – I need to rinse them more!”. I used to improvise and get down on one knee and let them use my other knee as a step stool. Also not good for the knees though. :-p
Of course, we will always be mothers and we love being moms, but it’s ok to celebrate when our role changes, right? I can’t help but celebrate. Our role is constantly changing, but we can always take comfort in the fact that we are still Mom and our kids will always need us in one way or another. I prefer they need us conversationally as opposed to, “Mommy, you need to wipe my butt!”. 😀