Raising Children...and realizing that we suck at it!

I remember whenI gave birth to Wee Witch...I swore to myself, in that hospital room on the maternity floor, from that moment on that there was NOTHING I would deny her - love, attention, material possesions...if she wanted it (or I wanted it for her) she would have it! I was so anamored with this beautiful Gift the Mother had so graciously bestowed on me. So, true to form, she was never away from me. Wether I was holding her, standing guard over her crib, carrying her around in her bouncy seat, pushing her stroller - I was at her beckon call! Any item she looked at for more than a moment - I was convinced she NEEDED to have! What was the harm? She was my baby? No cry went unanswered, no coo went unheard....that was what GOOD mother's do, right? Well, I did not want to be a good mother - I wanted to be a PERFECT mother. Just me and my Wee Witch - together forever, happiness abound! I scoffed at the parents who said no to their children, who dragged their children from stores without purchasing them a toy, who MADE them do things they did not want to do, did not praise every wonderful thing they did and so on........What awful parents! Didn't they know that they HAD to make their child's life comfortable and wonderful? That was their mission, their meaning in this world. And boy were they failing - oh, they just needed to follow my example...Flashforward to now, almost 8 years later! And this Mama Witch realizes...she had it all wrong :( Take the example of our beloved Mother. Does she love us from the moment of our conception in her womb? YES! Does she applaud our good descions and kind deeds? Certainly - for Gaia is omnipresent. However, because Gaia is the only PERFECT mother there is and will be, she also allows us to partake the wheel of Karma, she allows consquences for our misdeeds and sometimes, has to see us suffer through illness, pain and discomfort. At these times she has NOT abandoned us, she is just being the PERFECT Mother she can be - by being our mentor, our teacher, our guide - NOT OUR COMFORT BLANKET OR FRIEND! Karma is meant to balance out our life experiences....we experience the good and the bad. The wheel turns about every 3-5 years and works almost like a see-saw. Sometimes you are on top, you feel "high", all is right....and then you fall, you feel "low" and everything seems to be wrong. This is essential! How can we grow and learn and expand our Souls when we are too busy releshing in our "high"? For it is the times when we are "low' that we learn to trust in Mother's love, to hold tightly to our faith and love, to rely on our innate Goddess-Centers to carry us through. It is not bad or retribution - just learning and expanding for our own good. So, I have to come to realize that over-indulgence, "be-friending" my child or, overly crtiquing her is not being the PERFECT mother at all. I must TEACH her to be kind, to be strong, to find the Goddess-center in her own Soul, to explore and experience life according to her pre-destined chart. I must MENTOR her in the Laws of Karma, that punishment, pain and illness are not retribution for a job not well done but simply another way of growing and expandng as a human. I must NOT appease her every whim and "prayer" - Mother knows not to do this for us as She knows that sometimes the best prayers are the ones in which She says no to. I must not forget that I have been given the gift of my child - to raise by the ways of the universe, of Mithras, of Gaia and not by my own flawed human behaviors and ideas. I wish you nall the same enlightenment! Myspace Graphics