{"id":10204,"date":"2015-05-10T08:01:10","date_gmt":"2015-05-10T12:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=10204"},"modified":"2015-05-10T08:02:21","modified_gmt":"2015-05-10T12:02:21","slug":"a-mothers-note-to-her-sons-on-mothers-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=10204","title":{"rendered":"A mother’s note to her sons on Mothers Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reflections on raising two teen boys, the fears, the joys<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kelly Hockenberry<\/strong><\/span>, Columnist, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"KellyColumn415Revised\"<\/a>My dearest sons,<\/p>\n

Even though everyday is a joy with you little cherubs, I wanted to take the opportunity to\u00a0tell you just how much you have changed my life for the better.<\/p>\n

The funny thing about parenthood (that no one tells you in advance) is how hard it is, ALL THE TIME.\u00a0Not necessarily\u00a0hard in a “bad”\u00a0way….but,\u00a0challenging, to say the least. From the moment you were born, your Dad and I\u00a0questioned almost every decision. We worried about whether you were eating enough, sleeping enough, were\u00a0too hot or too cold. The panic of experiencing\u00a0your\u00a0first sickness, first broken bone, first stitches was overwhelming.<\/p>\n

Having\u00a0two sisters growing up, I\u00a0wasn’t prepared for the physicality of\u00a0little boys.\u00a0The lessons seemed endless and unrelenting. Thankfully,\u00a0the\u00a0scary incidents\u00a0were tempered by magical things: first steps, words, riding a bike, swimming the length of the pool, swishing your first basket. Pure joy.<\/p>\n

Now that you are teenagers, the concerns are larger because the issues are significantly more intense…hence\u00a0the reason for my constant nagging and ceasless\u00a0smothering. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it) Even though I know that my job as your mom will never be over, I do have moments of panic that you will soon\u00a0be leaving the nest. I feel like I\u00a0have so much more to teach you. Thank goodness we have cell phones! I know how much you enjoy getting texts and heart\u00a0emojis from me.<\/p>\n

Watching you grow and mature into young men makes me so proud. I can’t tell you how much it means when other parents,\u00a0teachers and coaches approach me to say how kind and generous\u00a0you are. There is no better gift I could receive. Your dad and I are so thankful to be your parents.<\/p>\n

So, on this special\u00a0day, I\u00a0am feeling blessed that you are my children. You are truly\u00a0my everything.<\/p>\n

I love you,<\/p>\n

Mom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reflections on raising two teen boys, the fears, the joys By Kelly Hockenberry, Columnist, The Times My dearest sons, Even though everyday is a joy with you little cherubs, I wanted to take the opportunity to\u00a0tell you just how much you have changed my life for the better. The funny thing about parenthood (that no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7],"tags":[892,895,5838],"class_list":["post-10204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-featured","tag-kids","tag-mothers-day","tag-parenting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10205,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10204\/revisions\/10205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}