As a discipleship homeschooler I am very aware of the whole child.  It is my responsibility to nurture and encourage every facet of my child’s life:  moral, spiritual, physical, mental, emotional and practical.  The challenge is though do I see myself as a whole person and at what age (or stage in my life) do I stop nurturing all facets of my being?  This question changes the idea ‘me time’.  There is lots of debate over whether me time is right for a mum – whether she should be content with her responsibilities and not try and get away from them or whether she deserves some space.  Looking at it from the perspective of duty or rights I think is missing the issue.

Instead we can ask ourselves the question –

• Am I growing morally?
• Am I growing spiritually?
• Am I growing physically (um… I am growing physically but I don’t think that is what is meant here!  LOL)
• Am I growing mentally?
• Am I growing emotionally?
• Am I growing in my practical skills?

If not, what do I need to do so that I am?

I personally don’t believe we need to ‘get away’ from our children to grow in these areas.  We can read a book, try a new recipe, and have a conversation with a friend even with our children close by.  There one key that helped me establish opportunity to grow (and refresh) while being a mum – It was my responsibility to make it happen – not Peters.

I was home all day with the children and I had the opportunity to train them to respect me as a person.  I taught them to have rest time every day (1 hour), and during that time I disciplined myself to look after myself – I may have read a book, worked on a craft project, or talked on the phone.  I also taught them to play so that while they were playing I could either work on my responsibilities or visit with a friend.

Training my children this way had a two fold effect:

1. My children learnt respect, obedience, love, and self control (which would then affect other relationships in their life)
2. I had time to look after my whole person

(N.B.  There were seasons – such as a new baby to the family – that this one hour didn’t happen, but generally speaking this was our goal and we always worked towards it being re-established in our days.)

At different times in my life as a parent, I have had to look at this list and review how I was going – and I am doing that even as I write – which one of these aspects am I not looking after too well?  For me it is the physical – I need to make some changes in how I look after my physical body.   So how are you doing?  Is there something you can change in your life so you nurture your whole being?

[Tweet “Every mum needs to look after her spiritual, moral, emotional, social, intellectual and physical needs.”]

Throughout the week I share with one, or more of these blogs:

Monday: (Australian) Australian Mums encouraging Mums (Rest of the World) Mom’s the Word,  Monday’s Musings,  Thoughtful Spot,  Meetup Mondays Tuesday: (Australian) IBOT @ Essentially Jess, (Rest of the World)  Hip Homeschool Moms Blog Hop,  Titus 2 Tuesdays,   Tuesday @10,  Intentional Tuesdays, Tuesday Talk Wednesday: Coffee and Conversation,  Finishing Strong (Middle & Highschool years),  Women with Intention,  Whole Hearted Home,   Coffee for your Heart,  A Little R & R,  Sitting among Friends Thursday: Hearts for Home / Embracing Destiny,  Shine Blog Hop,    From House to Home,  Grace at Home,  After my Coffee Friday: Grace and Truth Christian linkup,  Faith-filled Friday, Faith and Fellowship,  Learning from Each Other, Faith-filled Parenting Saturday/Sunday: Weekend Roundup Monthly: HSBA Post Blog & Tell