Long ago, I wrote regular feature on Tuesdays called My Kids Make Me Laugh (MKMML). The premise was that taking time to notice the everyday antics of my kids and laugh with them helped me treasure my boys in whatever phase they happened to be in. Beyond that, it was supposed to encourage you to do the same.
You can go look, there’s a whole categories devoted to MKMML posts. Some of them are awesome. Some of them are, quite frankly, not.
When I looked at the awesome ones, it made me wonder what I quit writing them. Then I looked at the “less than awesome” ones and I remembered.
At some point, my kids quit making me laugh.
There. I said it.
I quit delighting in the everyday antics of my kids. It was during a period when I was just dissatisfied and impatient with almost every part of my life. It wasn’t just my kids. I felt that way about any number of things.
I wasn’t exactly living with passion or purpose.
It was dark and messy. I wish it hadn’t happened.
But it did.
Writing MKMML Got Hard.
I never faked a MKMML post. I never made one up out of thin air. I even admitted my struggle when I wrote “my kids are NOT making me laugh today” in a post at the end of last summer.
The ones that are “less than awesome” reflect the fact that I stretched as a writer to find anything worthy writing about. What they don’t reflect is the weekly dose of guilt and remorse I felt because I was, increasingly, finding it hard to enjoy my kids.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped seeing them as treasures and started thinking of them as interruptions. Not. Good. Not good at all.
Thankfully, it was only a phase.
It passed.
(I know, that’s a total cop out. I’m sure you’d love to know what went wrong and what I did to fix it. The answer deserves a post of its own.)
But when it passed, I found myself laughing at (and with) my kids again. I fell in love with being their mom all over again. Even thought I haven’t posted a MKMML story in ages, these boys crack me up on a regular basis.
Hey mom, laughter is still a choice. #mkmml
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I miss #MKMML.
I’m bringing it back because honestly, my kids make me laugh (again). These days, I actually enjoy hanging out with my kids.
The premise works. Laughing at the perplexities of motherhood really does help us treasure our kids. Taking time to notice the everyday antics of my kids and laugh with them helps me treasure motherhood.
I’m launching the #mkmml initiative. (Why #mkmml? Because “My Kids Make Me Laugh” takes too long to type.)
Until next time, take a quick look at some of the more awesome #mkmml posts from the past. Beyond my all time favorite post about s-e-x, there’s some awesome stories buried back there.
Like…
When my kids started cussing and bringing home salty language from the playground, it wasn’t quite what I expected it to be. It was… funny.
Or the time when they were in trouble for hyphenating “butterfly” in the wrong spot at school.
In a flashback special, I traveled back to the time when they were both in diapers and I needed to laugh. (Special effects not included.)
Laughter is a choice. Even when the kids do something that drives you nuts (like the time that my youngest son started licking everyone) and sometimes, the best response is to just laugh. It’s the whole reason behind the #mkmml initiative.
The post my kids make me laugh (again) #mkmml appeared first on This Happy Mom.
