Parent Cravings.......

People are funny and what they 'crave' is funny too. Some people crave treats like ice cream and donuts, some people crave traveling and can't wait to buy their next plane ticket. I crave being a parent.

When I was younger, not that I'm old, I would imagine myself as a parent and I would crave these images. The images would be of me making my kids peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (even though I can't stand the smell of peanut butter)because they loved them. These images would be of me waking up at night in the middle of a great dream to change my child's sheets because she had just wet the bed and was standing next to my bed crying. The images would be of me playing with my children in our house on a cold, rainy day though I had a ton of housework to do. Or sometimes they were as simple as driving my child to school and making sure he didn't forget his backpack in the car before I drove away. Sometimes the images would be of me watching my child grow up and laying awake at night wondering if I had done everything in my power to provide this person with a solid sense of self.

What's interesting is that all of the image I had were always about sacrifice and taking care of my child. I know to be a good parent is totally about sacrificing yourself for your child when they are young, but I think kids need their parents to sacrifice all the way from infancy, toddler, teen and into adulthood. Now don't get me wrong, of course you have to let your child become a responsible adult and take care of themself, but parenting never stops and doing things for your children never stops either.

I'm 33 years old and my dad is still doing things for me, like mowing my lawn...only because he wants to do those things for me. He even takes care of my friends who's parents are not around. He always has taken care of my sisters and our friends. I'm sure this is why I always had the images of sacrifice because that is what my parents did for me.

My craving to be a parent is selfish or possibly selfless.......I'm not really sure but I do know I want to 'take care' of my children forever.