Who You Are

I have come to believe that having children teaches you who you really are. What I mean by this is that if you thought you were patient, or generous, or a good teacher or very organized.... You learn if you really have as much patience as you thought. Because having kids challenges all of that, you don't get to get a break from the stress, you go home to it every day and there's no letting up.

Now, I'm not saying this to be negative, or make it sound like my kids aren't the most perfect children in the world (they are!), I'm just learning things about myself, which is what stress does to you, I guess. I'm learning that I'm organized at work, but never at home. And I always envisioned myself as a very structured, routined mom, but I've come to realize that its ok that I'm not. Structure doesn't really exist in our schedule. But I do wish that I had more patience, and that's a work in progress. Kids not only teach you who you really are, they motivate you to become a better person. They challenge your priorities too (Do I care more about my TV show or talking to my kids? How dirty is too dirty for the kitchen floor to be? Do I really want to mop every day?), and make you think about which things really ARE important, and which ones don't matter quite as much.

What have you learned about yourself since you became a parent that you might not otherwise have discovered? Or, how have your priorities changed over the last few years?