Why would anyone take this away from me?

If you know anything about me at all, you know how I feel about my kids, and you know that I’m pretty passionate about Biblical parenting.
Because I am so serious about Biblical parenting, I have a hard time when people push and judge over things that are totally a matter of opinion.

You know how I feel about pacifiers.
I’ve told you my thoughts on the crying-it-out method and formula vs breast feeding.

And now I am going to tell you my thoughts on one more thing.
If you already disagree with the 2 previous posts I gave links too, you can just x out of this page, because you probably aren’t going to like it.
It’s cool. I won’t be offended.

A while back, there was a post that was being shared over and over by friends on facebook.
Whenever I see a post about things no parent should be doing, or things every parent should be doing…it piques my interest.
So I clicked on it.
And it was basically a list of 10 or 15 things every mother should stop doing for her kids by the time they are a teenager.
I honestly don’t remember all of them, and I purposely didn’t try and find the article again to re-read it because it didn’t sit right with me when I read it.
I have found this one item on the list though, that keeps coming back to me over and over.

By the time your child is a teenager, you should stop waking them up in the morning.

Keep in mind. This list was totally and completely 100% opinion.
There was no Biblical basis to it whatsoever (I don’t believe it was written from a Christian perspective)
And there was no statistics saying why it was such a bad move by moms.
It basically shamed moms that did this.

If you can’t see where I am going with this yet, let me spell it out for you.
I wake up my boys every morning before school.
They are 16 and 14.
I am not sorry.

For several weeks after reading the article, I have to admit that I felt guilty.
I felt like I was doing something wrong.
I felt almost ashamed and hoping that nobody knew I was waking up my boys.
Until.
I realized something.

I absolutely love waking my boys up in the morning.
I. love. it.
Every morning, I have a routine.
I get up at 6:15. I take a shower, I read my Bible. I put music on in the house. I start breakfast and making lunches (Yes, I make my boys lunches in the morning too. For shame, I know) and then I go into the boys room and wake them up.

Last week, it finally hit me.
How many more mornings am I going to have to wake these boys up?
I go in. I rub their heads, or kiss their cheeks and start their day by speaking life to them.
I might remind them that they were a superstar on the soccer field last night.
Or I might tell them to wake up joyful today, because God is going to great things today.
And then I walk out and carry on with my day.
I love it.
I love that time I have with them.
And why, please tell me why, is a random mom (who I don’t even know) shaming me for that?
Are there not enough things that I am already really and truly feeling guilty for that maybe I am doing wrong?
Listen, I am not shaming her for seeing the value in teaching her kids to wake up to an alarm.
If that fits into their family routine, and that’s what she wants to do, then more power to you, sister christian!
But my problem comes when I start feeling bad because what I do is different.
Yesterday morning as I woke up the boys and enjoyed every second of it, I thought back to that article.
I thought…why would anoyne take this from me?
Really. The days of me even having the option to do this are so limited, why would anyone take this from me?
The amount of time I actually get to even see my boys now that school, soccer and life have started back up in full swing again is so, so small.
And now someone wants to take this away from me. From a person they don’t know. A person they will never meet.
And for a second, I almost let it affect me.

Until I realized that I make choices for my family based on what works for us.
Basically, I want to spend more of my time giving moms permission to do what works for them as long as it stays Biblical, not judging them for how they are parenting differently.
It is not unbiblical to wake up your teenagers every morning.
It is not unbiblical to not wake up your teenagers every morning.

But whatever option you choose, love it.
Love it.
All of it.
Love every stage, every phase, and own it.
It’s your family.
It’s your choice.
And it’s my choice to be your cheerleader and encouraging you to do whichever way you choose.
I will not judge you for either one.
How could I?
I don’t think I have everything right.
But I do know that I love waking my boys up in the morning.
I have that privilege because I work from home, and I am not sorry.
And I do not think my boys are not going to function as adults because I do so.
I don’t think I have that much power.
Time goes by way too fast for me to be telling other moms how to wake up their kids.
Teach your kids to memorize scripture, yes.
Teach your kids to love God, to be respectful to others, to be humble, to be loving.
And you decide if you wake them up or if you don’t.

For me? You know where I’ll be tomorrow morning.
Waking up those teenage boys of mine.
And loving every second of it.