I have spent my day surfing the web and as a result, have encountered some super great blogs. In my cyber travels, I found this--and in an effort to always know where to find it-- to refer to it when I'm feel like motherhood is beating me down-- I will post it here.
"It is easier to build strong children, than repair broken men." Frederick Douglass
It is easier to support breastfeeding than pay for the health consequences of formula-feeding for the masses. You can help a mom breastfeed her baby - so much easier than treating asthma, auto-immune conditions, obesity and the rest.
It is easier to get up multiple times in a night with a newborn than treat an adult with anxiety and depression, whose earliest memories were of being left alone when they were crying for help.
It is easier to use gentle discipline than deal with violence in an adult.
It is easier to teach tolerance to a child than reform a teenage bully.
It is easier to invest in education than in prison systems.
"Easier" does not mean easy. None of those things are easy at the time - they're so hard that you might not be able to do them all, every time. That's ok - we're human. I've only been at it for 9 months, and I've already messed up on quite a few...that doesn't mean I'm going to give up trying. Ultimately, over a lifetime and in a society, it's easier than the alternative.
I'm trying to keep my long-term glasses on. I'm not trying to raise a "good baby" or an "obedient child." I am trying to raise a strong, courageous, compassionate man...who just happens to be 29 inches tall right now.
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