Mentoring

I know, I know! I haven't been blogging much lately! Life just gets busy at times, and it's just hard to get on the computer and have cogent thoughts appear on the screen when I'm feeling tired. We're getting ready for company this weekend, so once again, we are in the throes of cleaning.

A few nights ago I had a big conversation with a friend with whom we used to be stationed. They just had their first child, a boy, and so she was calling me to talk about questions she had. I find it so odd to be in a position to give advice. I mean, I certainly don't have it all together, and I don't want people to try my ideas, have them not work, and blame me! And yet, I do have 4 kids, so I must know something, right? I remember someone saying a while back that everyone is an older woman to someone else, but it still feels weird to be in that "older woman" position. Looking back to when I had my first child, though, my advice certainly has changed since then! I think my biggest advice now is "Relax! That sounds normal! You're doing just fine!" LOL! I'm definitely more relaxed about the baby stages now! And people ask me advice about homeschooling too. I'm no expert there either, and I haven't even been doing it for very long! Again I remember when Nathan was a little toddler. I was in a walking group with a lot of other great ladies, and they were always talking about their searches for the best preschool and so on. I was already thinking that we would at least try homeschooling, so I didn't have much to contribute to the conversations, although I was glad that I wasn't having to deal with all that stress! But I hastily polled all my homeschooling friends to find out what preschool stuff I should be doing with Nathan so he wouldn't fall behind. They all said, "Relax! Don't worry about it! He'll be just fine! Just read and talk to him!" Now I find that is my answer when people ask me about toddlers, and that certainly has been my philosophy so far with Caleb! So I can see the importance of having older women giving this sage advice, but I still find it hard to believe that I'M one of the older women! That people look to me as some kind of authority and actually try my suggestions! LOL! Where does the time go? And do I need some kind of certificate? : )