“It Never Gets Harder Than Three”
The author of the blog, Semicolon, shares her experience that parenting three kids is the apex of difficulty, and has a lovely end to the post:
The wonderful part of this story is that adding another and another and another never gets any harder than three. When you realize that it’s really, truly only by God’s grace that any of them survive to adulthood, that each child is a gift, and that the molding and shaping and even educating that parents do is somewhat limited in scope and influence, and that as a parent you are almost completely deficient in the skills, patience, and wisdom that are needed to parent these children . . . well, then you can begin to relax, do the best you can and depend on God to fill in the gaps.
I might substitute community, the universe, or family/friends for God, but I take her point, and I only have two children. For me, two is the number that is beyond my capability. I am humbly reminded on a daily basis that I do not have enough skill or patience to meet all the needs of the family, much less the attendant wants.
As I’ve noted before, there’s ALWAYS too much to do. It’s how I handle myself in the face of this, though, that makes a difference on a daily basis. Traveling with the kids, I’ve told myself to enjoy it when it goes well, and not flip out if it doesn’t. This advice also works on a larger level, if only I can remember it.