Watching daughter brings joy

The thing I enjoyed the most about our recent three-week visit to Texas was not cuddling a tiny baby. It was not seeing the expression of triumph on granddaughter Emma’s face when she successfully swam under my legs in the backyard pool after multiple failed attempts. It was not playing baseball with two-year-old Jacob. He bats as well as I pitch.
It was not being awakened every morning by a cheery toddler in Batman pajamas who would yank the pillow out from under my head. It was not holding a sulking child on my lap and swinging on the swing. It was not tripping over a cat every time I wanted to go into the house. It wasn’t even being introduced to the Bubble Guppies or the Umizoomies.
Those things were precious but the best part was watching my daughter take care of her children. One day she was nursing the baby while Jacob was snuggled up asleep against her when she told me that she had been worried that she wouldn’t be able to love more than one child but that she realized that she loved them each the best.
That’s the nature of love. It expands and grows. A mother’s love is boundless. And her children return that love. They use her for a jungle gym as she feeds the baby. They cling to her like barnacles at every opportunity. In a game of hide under the blanket, they will emerge squealing with delight when they hear her footsteps.
She is the ultimate authority. We were out to supper one evening and my husband was picking on Jacob. Jacob told him repeatedly to “top!” and when he didn’t, he told mommy on him. Mommy made him “top” what he was doing.
Watching her with her children makes me wish that every child had such a mother. Sadly, they do not. There are too many news stories about children being abused to death. Actually, the word should be tortured, not abused.
As a nurse, she sees the effects of child abuse and her heart aches for the children. She does what she can, but it’s never enough. She has friends who are foster parents and her eyes tear up when she talks about them because they are doing something noble by being proper parents to the children they care for.
 When we left for a visit with our daughter, there was a series of newspaper stories about a little girl in a nearby town who had been tortured to death. As far as I know, at least two of the people responsible for this heinous treatment are in jail with more prosecutions promised. In Houston, the local news featured a similar story about a child who had been killed by those who should have treated her with care and affection.
That is just one of the reasons that I appreciate the wonderful job my daughter does with her children. I sincerely hope that if you are blessed with grandchildren that they are blessed with a mother who is capable of treating them with love.
Sadly, not everybody is capable of loving their children. Some people suffer from a variety of problems that make this difficult, if not impossible. Mental illness, isolation and stress all make parenting more challenging. I wish I had the answers that would save children from mistreatment but I do not.
Therefore, I am more aware than ever of how stressful it is to care for a houseful of kids and more appreciative than ever that my daughter is one of the good parents. She does what every good mother does - her best. I hope that I have had a hand in showing her how to be a good mother. Watching her handle all the ins and outs of everyday life without losing her temper is gratifying.
It means that my grandchildren will never be the subject of newspaper stories of child abuse for theirs will be a childhood filled with love and a mother who knows how to care for them.[[In-content Ad]]