Advice for Younger Moms: 7 Things I’ve Learned

The older women likewise…that they admonish the young women…to love their children. ~Titus 2:3-5
Advice for Younger Moms
As an “older woman,” one of the main things I’d like to share with you is that I haven’t done it all perfectly. I’ve made mistakes. And the older I get, the more I’m aware of those mistakes.
I see things I could have done better, and oh, what I would give to go back and do some things over!
But I’ve learned some lessons I’d like to pass on to you, mothering wisdom I’ve had to learn the hard way.
1. Look to Jesus.
I believe that trust in God, love for one’s children, and prayer for wisdom are a recipe for successful parenthood far more reliable than all the books and seminars in the world. ~Elisabeth Elliot
2. Be what you want your children to be.
The coming of each new child strengthens and deepens my desire to be what I would have it become, makes my faults more odious in my eyes, and elevates my whole character. ~Elizabeth Prentiss, Stepping Heavenward
3. Delight in your children.

4. View each child as an individual.
5. Try to keep a balance between order and fun.
6. Keep an eternal perspective.
Oh, that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse into the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny—she would see that in all God’s world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no other hands the sacred and holy trust given to her. ~J.R. Miller, Homemaking
7. Enjoy these days!
Yes, I said it. I remember what it was like to have all young children. Sometimes the days seemed very long, and I couldn’t imagine anything different.
It seemed like they would never get old enough to stop wearing diapers and making messes.
When older, more experienced mothers would tell me to “enjoy it,” I would often feel annoyed. In my heart, I would think, “That’s easy for you to say!”
But it really is true. The time flies, oh-so-fast. The days may be long, but the years are short. And you can never get those days back.
Now that I find myself with three teenagers, a pre-teen, and an older child, I actually miss having toddlers and babies around. The years fly by, and they seem to grow up way too soon.
Enjoy the days with your little ones while they are still little. I promise you, one day you’ll miss it.
If you’re an older woman, what advice for younger moms would you like to pass along?
This post was updated in 2017.
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Joy, I have 8 children, 16 down to 3. I am in the best of both worlds, enjoying the abilities of the older ones, and still in the tiring stage of precious little ones. Even as I yet again strip the sheets because of an accident, and train them in good attitudes and kind words, I am also keenly aware that these days are soooo short. I have known that since I held my first little one that I would blink and he would be grown. Yet when you are sleep deprived and can’t keep up, it is so hard to keep perspective. I sit here with the sounds of my two smallest ones playing with wooden train tracks in the other room. My others are out doing farm chores, and my home is peaceful and generally clean because of the blessing of help from my 8 and 9 yr old girls. I am delighting this year in the special times of teaching them to read, and loving it, while a bittersweet feeling constricts my heart as I think that they are probably the last I will have the joy of teaching. They do grow up so fast. Cherish the moment.
Your children are blessed to have you for their mother!