I once heard a story about a Mommy who shut herself in her kitchen in the morning.  When her children knocked on the door, wondering what she was doing in there, she replied, “I’m busy making a Mommy in here!”

Mrs. Miryam Swerdlov says it in last week’s Binah magazine, when she was talking about happiness (an appropriate topic for the month of Adar):

“True happiness requires work.  We need to give ourselves time to learn and grow.  We need to make time to nurture ourselves, to mach a Mamme (make a mother) for our children.  We need to daven.  Sometimes, we need to eat a good slice of cheesecake . . . In order to be able to give to our families, we also need to give to ourselves.”

We all need to find the sweet spot. For some, it’s getting a full eight hours of sleep, for others, it’s having a specific food, or having some scheduled “me” time.  It might mean sending your toddler to a playgroup for a couple hours a day.  Or finding a friend who can do a babysitting swap with you once a week (very frugal, that).  Or getting a babysitter for a regular date night with your husband.  Or pampering yourself with yummy bath and facial treats (hello, Lush!).

Find what it is that makes yourself feel like a woman, above and beyond your other roles, be it wife, mother, grandmother, etc.,  and then do it on a regular basis.  If you nurture yourself, you will be in a better position to nurture others.

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