Caring for Calves and Kids

Have you ever considered just how impactful your touch is to your kids? How much weight, calmness, security it offers them? Well here is a little story to just show you how.

It was a few years ago when my in-laws wanted us to take an entire family vacation down in Florida. It was a busy, hectic week with 5 kiddos under 10 in the same house and 6 adults. The last day we were there my mother-in-law drove us to the airport. It was really early in the morning – I mean the sun wasn’t even up and I could still see all the stars in the sky early.

I was in the back of the car with my two kiddos at the time who were half asleep. And Anna, my youngest at the time, was about 18 months and starting to fuss because she could flip on her belly to sleep.

Normally she falls right to sleep in the car, but not this morning. Something was different. My sleepy-eyed self reached out and put 3 fingers on her belly. Almost instantly, she calms down and falls asleep. Yep, that’s all it took for her to feel safe, secure and connected to me, enough to fall asleep – 3 fingers.

Now just think about that for a second. Of all the skin on skin contact they teach you when they are first born, it was just this small touch that ensured my daughter that I was there. That she wasn’t alone. That she was safe. Wow. I mean it just hit me when I realized that. Our touch is so powerful to our babies (even as they continue to grow up).

I totally understand that sometimes all you want is your own gosh darn space! You wish your kids would learn personal boundaries or just leave you alone for five seconds. Trust me, I’ve been there many times. But it’s in those moments I try and remind myself what the power of a momma’s touch means to my kiddos.

To them it means, they are safe, they are loved, they aren’t alone, they are apart of something, they are important.

Is it easy to always remember this in the middle of a personal bubble invasion – no, but simple reminders like putting 3 simple fingers on my daughter’s belly to get her to go to sleep helps put it a bit more into perspective for me.