Why didn’t you pick me up from school today, mumma?
My younger one asked me the moment she entered home, with a hint of sadness in her voice.
Oh! I am so sorry honey. I was in a meeting and getting late, so called your friend’s mom to pick you, in case I don’t reach in time. I had just reached home.
Do you like me picking you from school? I asked.
Hmm…I do like it a lot. She gave me a tight hug with a little tear in her eyes.
Oh! Really?
And do you like it too? I asked my elder one (a teenager) thinking of the time when she wanted to walk back from school with her friends (without me).
Duh!
Do you ever need to ask this mom? She gave me a sarcastic smile.
Actually I was a little surprised. Even if I knew that kids love their mom to pick them from school, I never realised how much it really mattered to them.
I am a working mom but fortunate to be my own boss. So I have flexible work hours and manage in a way that I can keep my afternoons free to pick girls, have lunch with them and then sit with them for home work.
It is a routine every day to go and pick them, like all moms do. Listen to their ramblings, what happened at school, the highlights of their day with cute expressions and animations, cribbing, complaining & all.
It doesn’t seem to be anything special I do.
Though I’ve noticed how kids wait in the walker’s area and one by one their eyes light up when they see their mom (or dad). That sight is really beautiful.
It doesn’t matter how their mom look like, what she’s wearing, what’s going on in her head….their eyes sparkle the moment they see their mom.
Moms might be thinking in their head that they’re not wearing the smart dress like other moms. They might even be wondering if they’re doing enough or being enough as a mom and all the little and big worries of motherhood…
But what they see is – you, their mom! Who shows up every day…
And even if you don’t pick them from school due to work or other commitments, you do show up in so many other ways.
They don’t need any perfection, they don’t need a super mummy or yummy mummy (or the special mummy social media and society wants us to be).
They just want you, exactly the way you are!
So chin up mumma!
Feel the joyhood of being a mom in the daily mundane of your life.
In dropping and picking kids from school, in getting home work done, chauffeuring for extracurricular classes, making tiffins n snacks ready…and in the midst of all chaos making sure of giving n receiving cuddles and kisses.
And never forget. Motherhood matters every moment of their life.
You matter.
Much love.
Saloni