Yes, I admit it, I am an Old-Fashioned Mom

Over the last month, something keeps niggling at me - and I think I might have been too ashamed to admit it - but I am becoming an “old-fashioned” mom. I do think of myself as a “modern woman.” I am a full-time professional and a full-time mom. Like most parents in this day and age, I juggle too many balls and I acknowledge that I drop quite a few. But the more I reflect on motherhood, the more I see myself in my true colors - I am at heart an old-fashioned person, who is desperately trying to raise her family in an old-fashioned way. Maybe a few years ago I would have cringed as such a thought, but the more I look around me, the more I think this is a good thing. Why? Because we keep seeing the need for community, for manners, for niceties, for patience, for calm. I think back to my childhood, and I try to replicate some of the ways I was raised:

DO: smile at those that pass, say please and thank you, read books, play with the neighborhood kids, plant seeds and watch them grow, reuse what is the house, make crafts, jump rope, play jacks, play outside, clean your room, grow vegetables, eat  vegetables, honor mom and dad, respect adults, sit at the table until you are excused, walk with the family, start a piggy bank, make cards, say prayers, go to church.

DON’T: sass mouth, beg for new toys, watch too much television, waste food, play too many video games, eat too many sweets, litter, swear, chew with your mouth open, put your elbows on the table, stay out after dark, stay up too late, get up too late, whine, stare, point, punch, pinch, fidget, or smirk.

I never thought of any of these things as old-fashioned, but increasingly I see that they are. Even more increasingly I find myself drawn to the merits of these activities. So yes, I realize I am old-fashioned, and yes, I aspire to instilling these things in my family (even as a modern woman). And no, I am now not ashamed of it.