We normally milk our goats twice a day, but around breeding season, we often drop them down to once a day milking. We usually don’t need the extra milk and since the holiday season is the busiest time of the year for Goat Milk Stuff, it makes my boys (who do the milking) very happy.
But it doesn’t make the goats very happy. They like being milked and they like getting their oats on the milk stand. Since we just dropped them to once a day milking, they’ve been standing just outside the milk room door instead of having fun in the woods. Every time somebody walks past them, they loudly complain to let us know that they think we’ve forgotten them and are not doing our duty.
I try to be nice and commiserate with them, but mostly I just tell them they’re being babies and they should go play in the woods. They don’t listen to me, though. Stubborn goats.
But listening to the goats voice their displeasure reminded me of how the children sometimes respond to decisions I make.
As the mom, I’m regularly making decisions for the family. Decisions such as what to make for dinner, what time to wake up in the morning, and what cleaning chores need to be accomplished are regularly made. These decisions are not always popular with every individual in the family. Sometimes the children will be vocal with their complaints, sometimes they may quietly grumble, and sometimes they may shrug it off and move on.
As the mom, it’s my job to listen to any (appropriately expressed) complaints and decide whether or not that complaint is valid. Quite often, the child has a good point, but the decision that I made is still what’s best for the family. I have to stand firm in my decisions and not crumble under the pressure. While I want my children to be happy, I want what is best for them even more.
And sometimes a decision that is best is not always what makes them happy.
So I stay strong and know that in the end, doing the right thing for everyone is more important than making decisions that please everyone. It’s a part of what parenthood is all about.
What about you? Are you able to stand by your decisions? Or are your children able to coax you to change your mind?
