How to Encourage a Mom

See that dolly?  Does she remind you of anyone?  My friend, Jeanette, thought so and for no reason other than love delivered her, along with a lovely handwritten note, to our doorstep last week.  That same friend shares a birthday with Conleigh and always sends a card, ones that almost always features a sweet brown girl.  Her love and concern for Conleigh always warms my soul.

Sometimes we make encouraging moms a hard thing.  My friend, Jeanette, has got it right.  You just do.  You make support and encouragement a verb and just do the things you think you ought to do. 

 I've been so blessed in my mom days from older ladies who just do that.  From a brown mom, which is a rarity around here, who sent me a note in the mail, after seeing me at Walmart, a note full of encouragement about doing a good job.  Maybe she didn't mean to specifically encourage me as the mom of brown kids but she did.  To another friend whose hair is not streaked by grey but is pretty darn white, who braves the world of Facebook and almost always comments on my posts, cheering from the sidelines, despite 35 plus years of difference in our ages.  

Every mom needs people in her corner, telling her she's doing well, noticing the small things about her and her family.  When that comes from women outside of your peer group, I think there is something double rich about the words, something special and sweet about their act of doing. 

 And there is the secret to how to encourage a mom.  You do encouragement. You just do it.