Adventure Awaits :: Parenting Through The Hills and Valleys

lindsey's bike post

Many are the aspects of parenting you simply can not understand until you become one. Much like riding a bike, you can witness someone else performing the act. You can touch the bike, even sit on it- but unless you actually ride it, you won’t fully understand what it means to balance your body, steer, pedal and feel the wind in your hair plus the combination of fright and exhilaration as you rush down that first big hill, or the ache of your legs as you struggle to push yourself back up from the bottom. Hills and valleys as experienced by a child on a bike – carefree and optimistic – have to be just about the best way to hurdle through those pesky obstacles. Unfortunately, life’s hills and valleys aren’t so literal or easily conquered. Especially when it comes to parenting.

Advice is abundant when you are a parent. Sometimes criticism is, too.

Show of hands for the pregnant mamas who were told by strangers “WOW! You look like you could go any DAY!”You know…when you still have 3 freaking months! Mamas of multiples, we salute you! Or, those of you who had a baby in the buggy + one who is too big to fit in the front but too threenager-ish to walk, so you spend your grocery time chasing/manipulating them to stay close to you with the promise of allthesnacks if they will just remember to listen, pretty please. And then a stranger gives you the eye. It’s like, thank you, ma’am. I’m doing my best here, sheesh.

Parenting.

Advice. Parenting books. Eye witness experience…those are all fine and well and sometimes actually very helpful. Still, no one trick will work for every child and for every child your parenting will be slightly different, and that’s OK.

In the sea of advice that we can sometimes drown in, what nobody tells you is that the valleys of parenting can be deep, and wide, and sometimes very loud and lonely at the same time. That sometimes the only communication you will have with the adult world will be through texting or social media. That at times you will pedal so hard to reach the top you think your legs might fall off and just exerting enough force for the next push takes more mental strength and grit that you ever knew you could muster. Then, when you do reach the top, you barely have enough time to catch your breath before you are careening down the hill both exhilarated and frightened out of your mind. Doing everything you can to appreciate the ride but also wishing it would S L O W down so you could enjoy it more before you come to another hill. Rinse, repeat.

I guess what I’m saying is that no one knows.

We are all just winging it, right? Sometimes your bike pedals great, and sometimes your chain falls completely off. Sometimes you have to switch gears…a lot. Sometimes you have to get off and literally push just to make it home. And sometimes, the best times, you have a fellow rider come up beside you and you exchange encouragement and yes, even advice.

And no matter how rough the ride, just like your childhood self, you are proud of yourself for making it. For getting back up and trying again. For facing your fears and lifting your legs as you sail down the same hill that once made your stomach churn with anxiety. And the most amazing part? Your ride is all your own. No other person in life will ever ride through the same trail as you. YOU are making your own path, your OWN way all while parenting your children to do the same. That’s pretty incredible. So, go out there mamas!

Put your helmet on and ride. Adventure awaits.

lindseylitzner
Lindsey is thrilled to be back home in Kansas. She grew up across from a cornfield in a little town just North of Wichita, met her husband in High School and their young love carried them through college. The two married after graduation & began the adventure of Medical School, Residency, and Fellowship that took them to 3 states (um, 7 moves!) in 10 years. During that time, Lindsey taught first grade until she had the first of two children and began her role as a stay-at-home mama. Recently, she turned her love of fashion & design into a consulting business. Lindsey credits her role as owner of Huck & Leni Personal / Interior Styling as allowing her to be true to herself as a woman & as a mama. She admits the balance is sometimes tricky, but hey...that's why there's coffee, right?