This was posted on a homeschooling list I am on and I liked it-

A Parent's Thanksgiving List
by Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard
Friday, November 16, 2007

Thanksgiving usually inspires parents to start a diet. But if
you'll indulge with me for a while, I'd rather list a few things I'm
grateful for as a mother.

I'm grateful my children demand I talk to them when I don't feel
like talking, feed them when I'm not hungry, and change their
diapers even when I'm all dressed up and ready to go somewhere
special. I don't think I'd discover the world outside my own needs
without them.

I'm grateful my children haven't learned how to hold back their
tears when they're sad, laughter when they're happy, or screams when
they're frightened. They constantly remind me that emotions are for
sharing.

I'm grateful my children have broken nearly everything in my home
and used a crayon or ink marker on the rest. They've taught me that
things aren't important, but people are.

I'm grateful my children start out small and helpless so they don't
become aware of my incompetence until they're teenagers. By then,
we've both grown so accustomed to each other, we somehow manage to
make it through the rest of life together.

I'm grateful my children get their pants dirty, pick their noses,
burp without saying "excuse me," and quarrel in public so I'll never
be able to get too arrogant, proper, or judgmental of other people's
children.

I'm grateful my children sometimes call me names like "weird"
because sometimes I am "weird," and it helps keep a person humble to
be told they're "weird" when they're acting weird.

I'm grateful my children occasionally miss the bus at the precise
moment I've stepped out of the shower, contemplating the well-
planned, organized day ahead of me. Experiences like jumping into
the car after throwing on whatever's handy and racing to school have
a tendency to loosen rigid plans into something better known as
spontaneity.

I'm grateful my children always need new shoes, piano books,
prescriptions, haircuts, fieldtrip money, tuition, food, toothpaste,
and underwear. That way, I don't have to waste my time thinking
about a new sofa. It's difficult to get wealthy and think about
luxuries when you have to buy toilet paper and milk by the truckload
each week.

I'm grateful my children know how to play. My five-year-old asked me
to come downstairs so he could "teach me how to play" with his
plastic animals. While Jacob demonstrated the subtle techniques for
sinking a rhinoceros into couch cushions while pretending it was
quicksand, I realized my young son was right. I really do need
someone to "teach me how to play."

I'm grateful my children question my every command and giggle when I
get angry. It's difficult to feel too powerful or self-righteous
with kids around to remind you of how funny you look when you're
pointing your finger.

I'm grateful my children insist I hug, kiss, rock, or put my arms
around them often. Otherwise, I think I'd forget how the sense of
touch is so healing.

I'm grateful each of my children is unique when the same strange,
inexperienced mother raised them. Somehow they don't seem to let me
ruin them much.

And lastly, I'm grateful for the gift of children in my life. God
willing, I'd like to fill the rest of my days with those interesting
people who call me Mom (yes, and sometimes "weird") but
eventually "weird grandma."

From Families Who Laugh . . . Last by Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard