There’s a season of parenting that doesn’t always get much attention. It’s not the early years of diaper bags and sleepless nights, and it’s not yet the season of college send-offs or empty nests. It is the middle, when your little kids have grown into big kids, but everyone is still under your roof, still needing you in more ways than you imagined.
I remember, several years ago, following other mamas on Instagram who were in this season and thinking, “Oh goodness, I’m so far away from that!” How wrong I was. The days do feel long, especially for the mom with a toddler on one hip while balancing a baby in the other arm, but the years are undeniably short.
My two daughters are very close in age, and while my son joined our family several years later than we planned, the house was (and truthfully still is) wonderfully hectic. Before I knew it, and before I was ready for it, I found myself in the middle.
In the middle, you find yourself straddling two worlds. You are no longer tying shoes or buckling car seats, but you are also not done with permission slips, carpools, or curfews. Your days are filled with school drop-offs, sports practices, rehearsals, doctor’s appointments, and first jobs. The conversations have shifted from “Why is the sky blue?” to “What should I do about this friendship?” or “How do I handle this stress?” You may not be the constant caretaker anymore, but you are the steady guide, and that role matters more than ever.
Big kids still need their parents deeply, even if they do not always say it out loud. They need emotional support as they wrestle with identity, belonging, and the pressures of growing up. They need practical help too: rides to practice, a home-cooked meal, help with homework, or even just clean laundry. And perhaps most of all, they need spiritual support. They need to see you model faith and prayer in the everyday rhythms of life, so they can carry those rhythms into their own futures.
For moms, parenting in the middle can feel heavy. You are still the glue holding the family together, managing the schedules, balancing the emotions, and carrying the mental load for so many moving pieces. Yet this season often feels invisible. It does not have the sparkle of first steps or first day of kindergarten, and it has not yet reached the milestone moments of graduation or moving out. But this season is just as holy, just as sacred, and just as worthy of being named and celebrated.
The middle years are a chance to plant deep roots of connection and trust. They are the time to listen more than lecture, to lean in even when your kids act like they do not need you, and to celebrate who they are becoming. These years invite us to grieve the littleness that has slipped away while embracing the bigness of who our children are growing into.
It is also a time to gently begin opening the door to friendship. My kids are not yet my friends. That role will come in their adult years. For now, I remain their parent, their guide, their safe place.
And through it all, God equips us for the middle. He knows this season is both exhausting and beautiful, both challenging and rewarding.
So, mama in the middle, take heart. Every ride, every late-night conversation, every meal, every prayer whispered over your child is part of the harvest. Just like teaching preschoolers is holy work, living in the middle is holy ground, and every step is worth enjoying and celebrating.
This season matters.
…for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. — Galatians 6:9
Grace in the Disarray 