I don’t consider myself an overly emotional person. Most days, I’m pretty steady. I have normal bouts though, and since I’m a stay-at-home mom, my kids witness it all.
They’ve seen me cry.
They’ve heard me yell.
And last week, my son commented, “It’s kind of stressful being a mom, isn’t it?” Apparently I wasn’t masking the overwhelm of my to-do list very well that day.
But it’s not always sad around here. In fact, it’s usually pretty happy. We have really wonderful days. We read books and bake together. We snuggle up for naps and go exploring in the woods. But emotions mark our memories well. The good and the bad. I don’t want the occasional tears or loss of my temper to stand out. When my kids look back at our days together, I want their key memories to be ones of me smiling. Laughing even.
And I know I need to laugh more.
I need to let go and live more often.
I want to train myself to laugh at accidental messes and my boys’ silly antics. I want to crack a smile and belly laugh about their ridiculous joke, or shake my head and chuckle at my own forgetfulness.
When my son starts dancing like crazy to his favorite Disney song, the dishes don’t matter. I need to grab a spatula and sing along. He will laugh and I will laugh and we’ll bear hug. And the dishes will still get done. Just five minutes later.
When my toddler accidentally spills a box of cereal because he opened it upside-down, I can teach him to laugh and learn from these kinds of little mistakes. When I run back into the house to grab my keys — the keys that are in my pocket — I can laugh at my forgetfulness. We can laugh together, because that’s funny! Annoying, yes, but totally worth a giggle.
I want the little interruptions and frustrations of life to evoke laughter. I want to choose joy in circumstances that would normally cause me strife. Because little things like misplacing my keys or sweeping up cereal really shouldn’t rock me. In fact, they’re opportunities for core memories. Laughing memories.
I want my kids to grow up and say, “My mom was silly. She didn’t let things get her down.” I want laugh lines so deep that I need extra-strength moisturizer and special night creams.
Mama, it's time to laugh. Memories filled with laughter are what we want to lock into our kids' minds. Create them. Smile. Grin. Snicker. Snort. Whoop and howl. Guffaw. Burst with laughter.
Find a time today. Let loose. Let a smile turn into a chuckle. Do something funny. Tell your own joke. Laugh and laugh hard. It will be good for your soul, and the joy that laughter brings will be one of the greatest gifts you can give your kids.
