Junior Mom

I have a daughter who was born with a mothering heart. For as long as she has been able, she has been concerned with the welfare and the happiness of everyone around her. I have a video clip of her, as a three-year-old, going all out to make her one-year-old sister laugh and laugh and laugh.

I heard a high school chum refer to herself as "Junior Mom" one time. I knew instantly what she meant, and I knew instantly who the Junior Mom in our family was.

I can always count on her to help with the baby. Always. She will come from the other end of the house if she hears crying. She helps with the little kids at Church, and at the Library, and she even invited a girl she had just met ten minutes before to a birthday party we had at the park last month (I was a little taken aback, but I just rolled with it).

Sometimes, this maternal instinct of hers backfires on me. She tries to parent a situation I've already parented. She swoops in and solves something I have already decided to let be on purpose. Etcetera.

But I don't want to squelch her inclination in any way. I foster it. I rely on it. I compliment it.

I adore it.

I am grateful for my Junior Mom. She loves so easily, and serves so selflessly. Small wonder that she makes friends everywhere she goes. I think people like to be gently mothered just a little now and then. It's a compliment, telling a person they are worth caring about and fussing over.

My girl really is an excellent Junior Mom. Now if I can help her get to that "gently mothered" spot, along with the "just a little now and then" spot, we're set!

What are you blessed with today?