Lessons for Mommy

Soooooo, I discovered, again, this week that I have been neglecting one of my children. Not on purpose, I don't like this child any less than my others, but this particular child doesn't ask or need much, so in turn gets less attention than the other "squeaky wheels". It broke my heart as we had a little one on one chat tonight about it. Basically the kids think of me as the task master with whip in hand shouting out demands, and chores, and disciplining this or that. And well, Dad is the "more fun one". It's not a competition, I don't need my kids to love me more than they love their dad, but it is not a good thing if when they think of dad, they think "FUN!" and when they think of Mom, they think, "WORK!" I need to try and hand out equal amount of praise and fun as I do reprimands and life lessons. I need to give more hugs. I need to play more UNO (Heaven help me!), make more cookies with them (Heaven help my waist line!) and play more Wii-because that's what they like to do. I need to steal opportunities for little chats and read more stories. When my kids are adults, I don't want them looking back at their childhood and only thinking, "Mom always had dinner ready and made sure we emptied our backpacks, put our shoes away, and did our Saturday chores-she was so great!" :) I want them to remember spending time with me and having happy moments, not so much "learning opportunities". From what everyone says, kids grow up way too fast, so I'd better truly enjoy them now and create good positive memories, not a to-do list.