How to be a Psychic Mom

If your home is like mine, with a little one who suddenly became a bundle of activity, it happens all day long.  You glance up, and your babe is playing quietly with her stuffed animals.  A few seconds later she’s nowhere to be seen.  Or, you watch your little guy flipping through board books, only to suddenly hear water spilling around the corner.  Water?  What water?  Where did he go?

Forget eyes in the back of our heads.  Moms these days need superpowers to keep up with our twirling little tornadoes.

Even better would be the ability to stay one step ahead…wouldn’t it be great if we had some psychic ability that allowed us to whirl and catch that babe mid-fall, whip around the corner in time to catch the magazines being pulled off the coffee table or know without a doubt that our darling babe is cheerfully stamping up the stairs alone right at this moment?

But there’s irony at work here.  Every scrap of smarts, independence and curiosity we hope our kids have when they are six, sixteen and beyond begins now.  As scary as it is to watch them toddle into harm’s way, reach for things we never imagined they’d want, and stumble along the way…it’s what life is all about.

Maybe we can’t be everywhere and see everything, and maybe we can’t have psychic powers.  Maybe we just need to have faith.  Faith that our babes will toddle, reach and stumble along just like all the others before them, and that we will be there when they need us most. 

And it’s enough.  It always has been, and it always will be.

Here are five little rules to help you fine-tune your own mom psychic powers:

 Rule #1:  You can never trust quiet.  Ever.  If things are quiet, you need to go looking.  Fast.

Rule #2:  Remember that your wee ones learn to watch you just like you watch them.  If you stop paying attention, they’ll know it.

Rule #3:  The sound of water dripping or splashing is ALWAYS bad news.

Rule #4:  Pets and kids are twice the fun, and six times the trouble.  Count on it.

Rule #5:  Learn to rely on methods of communication that let you stop, go and move with your baby! Think cordless phones, texting, messaging, etc. 

Now get moving and follow that babe!