As long as their needs get met?

I saw an interview recently, with a mom of multiple children (she has 13 I believe), and the question was asked,

"How do your children receive the attention they need?"

She gave a very good answer, and this is in no way a criticism of her, but part of her answer was that if she was not able to give them the attention, someone else would. She was speaking of her other children, who are there to help out immensely when mommy is not available. This appeared to be a very hard-working, loving, and dedicated mother so I don't believe she had any ill-intentions or that she pushed her responsibilities of on others.

A few days later, I thought of this interview again, with respect to the time and attention I give my children. It's funny that I will listen to one of my nieces read a story to my baby, I think about when the last time I read a story to her one on one.

Then it made me wonder how many times I have shifted such a responsibility onto someone else - whether it was learning the Bible at Sunday school, learning phonics at preschool, or being lulled to sleep by a CD player - and was satisfied with the fact that they got their need met.

I thought further about how I should be careful with that type of mindset because if I adopted that as a principle I might become lazy in my responsibilities to meet the needs of my family.

Think about it..... Would you be comfortable if, in your marriage, your spouse did not have any complaints because his or her needs were being met, but not necessarily by you? I don't think so. I think most of us would work really hard at making sure the their needs were being met by us!

All of those thoughts that came together for me this morning, should motivate me to take the time out that is necessary, although not always convenient or comfortable, to meet the needs of my husband and my children.