This morning, the children are are grouchy. That’s because Lee has a military function this week where he has to work late.

I tried to hold the children off until 7:00, but I ended up feeding them partially at 6:45. They wanted to save some of their dinner for when dad came home, but they were pretty hungry! Tonight I’m going to serve high tea at 4:00 (complete with sandwiches and cookies) to hold them over until a late dinner. Lee’s grandma says that’s the whole point of a good tea, anyway. We’ll see if that works, and then we’ll eat together when Lee gets home.

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After dinner last night, Lee made cookies with the kids. They started when the children are normally getting ready for bed, and they were finally in their beds about an hour after bedtime. Basically, Lee’s reasoning for making cookies was that this way they’d actually see dad (he leaves before they wake up, usually) instead of having to go to bed as soon as he’s done eating.

Part of me started to fret. Making cookies meant they’d go to bed long past their bed time. They’d be tired and grouchy in the morning, and we’d get a slow start in school. (Truthfully, part of me wanted to send them to bed early so that I could spend time with Lee.)

Then the rational side of me kicked in. Well, isn’t that why you homeschool? Can’t you do school an hour or two late? Don’t you PRIDE yourself on your flexibility? So what if they need a nap mid morning or take a few days to catch up? Weigh the options and decide which is more important: sleep and temporarily grouchy children? or seeing daddy? In our case, because Lee works a lot of hours anyway, allowing the children to stay up late is worth it for me.

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Then I started thinking about how many times flexibility is important for me as a mom. Church never fits schedules well with young children. Hospitality means children’s bedtimes can be stretched. Sometimes I need to stop my important agenda and devote my attention to my children (not partial attention as I am apt to give).

In some seasons of our lives, we cannot be as flexible as we’d like to be. Sometimes sleep DOES matter. Sometimes we truly cannot drop everything to serve someone else. At the end of the day, we all need wisdom and truth to know when to be flexible and when to be rigid.

Can you think of other times when flexibility is helpful as a mom?

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