It takes a village

This guy won this week. Not the ball, but in life. Because you think when you first start raising kids in the Orthodox community that they’ll grow older and go to shul to pray and join all the others in learning Torah. And it will be all to your credit because you sang all the right songs and suffered through all the right Uncle Moishy tapes when they were little. But really, they’re kids. They’d rather sleep, play, watch videos or do pretty much anything other than what they’re expected to do.

For this guy, all the stars aligned to make sure he dragged himself to minyan. It started with his brilliant school hosting optional school davening, complete with awesome prizes that someone no doubt sponsored. And then there were his pals that planned to meet him on the corner to bike there. You have to be a big bum to leave your friend waiting on a corner…or at least that’s what I said when I tried to drag him out of bed every five minutes, EVERY morning. The moral of this story is that behind every kid that shows up to daven or learn is a nagging mother, and now that I know that, I want to high five every last one of them.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog lately because I’ve neglected it. Have you ever noticed that most mom bloggers have little kids? It’s only natural to want to blog when they’re so stinkin’ cute and photogenic and you as a mom are so desperate to think about something other than diapers. The kids help in the kitchen and there are so many stories to share about how you got them to eat spicy Indian curry soup or found the best cloth diaper option.

But then life gets busier and kids no longer think it’s cute to show up on mom’s blog or social media feed. And younger moms follow with their own healthy food blogs and magazine-quality photos.

So, I stopped writing for leisure and did a whole lot more writing professionally.

But I missed it. I have stacks of journals from my younger years, and this blog became that sacred space for me. And I’ve come to realize that there aren’t many voices among mom bloggers sharing the reality of raising kids during the middle and high school years.

So I’m back.

With no promises or pretenses, I hope to check in when I can. I hope to strike a balance between sharing my struggles and triumphs and maintaining my kids’ privacy. It means I’ll have to ask their permission before posting about them and measure the value of my words. I hope to keep it real and make us all feel a little bit more like we’re in this together.

Because it takes a village to raise these kids.