Indulgence

During the summer months, my good friend, Laura and I walk almost every morning at the crack of dawn. She is a really good friend of mine and I have a lot of A-Ha (as Oprah would say) moments at 5am with her. After the conclusion of our long holiday weekend both of us noticed that as the weekend progressed our older children wanted/demanded our attention constantly. By Memorial Day, we were exhausted!! We are both good mothers and only want to spend as much time as we can with our children and because we both work we have the big GUILT FACTOR. On the weekends I really bend over backwards so the boys can do what they want. Honestly, my weekends are way more exhausting than my work week. On Sunday, we were at my sister's house swimming and I didn't get in the pool. Jay was ticked and let me know it. He couldn't understand why I wouldn't get in and swim with him. As usual my mommy guilt kicked in but then I realized once again we had spent the entire weekend doing fun stuff that ranged from going to the beach, staying up late, watching Phineas and Ferb, going to Aunt Mimi's birthday party and playing outside. I told Jay that if he couldn't swim/play by himself for awhile and let me relax then it was going to be a long summer. Not to mention, Nick was there to play with him. It really made me question myself as a mother. Am I making things too easy on my boys? I have always had a problem with instant gratification and impulsivity and I wonder if I'm unintentionally over indulging them. I want them to appreciate what they have and be thankful for it and overall they are but there is still much room for improvment. Laura and I agreed we can't conquer all of this overnight but what we are proud of the fact that we recognize it and are aware of it.