Deliberate mothering

Some time ago I was reading a blog post written by a friend where she defined the word "nurture" using the term, "deliberate mother" (if you are interested in her article you can read it here).  Her words really stuck with me and have served as a reminder that the most important thing I can do is focus on my children, with a concentrated effort to ensure I am giving them my time, attention, and best efforts as I teach and train.   But it is often so hard for me to take that time; to slow down, to be patient, and stay calm.  I realize I need to be more forgiving of their mistakes, smile more, and encourage more.  I'm trying to let the little things go and not waste time worrying, or being frustrated.  And yet I struggle with this!  I try to enjoy and appreciate my children, and focus on teaching, training, loving, accepting, and appreciating them. But I admit that I have to remind myself to be a "deliberate mother," fairly often. I don't have a hard time enjoying the quiet moments.  I love to snuggle my children.  My favorite time of the day is bedtime when I have their attention and they are content and willing to let me cuddle them as we read together.  What I am not good at is managing the rest of the day, making sure that I am creating peace as we go along and taking advantage of teaching moments.  It seems there are so many demands on my attention and time and it's too easy to get distracted when I do have a quiet moment... especially by things like blogs, pinterest, online shopping, researching this or that... ummm, I guess in a nutshell the internet and all of it's amazing tips and tricks.  Then I came across this article several weeks ago (which yes, I admit sheepishly, I found while on the computer) and it really made me think and motivated me once again to be a more deliberate mother.  To spend less time looking for new things to do and really focus on the little persons that I have to teach and cuddle and cherish right now.  To appreciate it when they ask me for help, or food, or stories, realizing that right now they not only need me, they want me, and when I take the time to recognize it, what I really need and want is not more tips, not more projects, not more information, what I really need and want is to make the most of the time I have with them.