How Being a Midwest Girl Prepared Me for Motherhood

Sure, there are some days I would love to live within driving distance to the mountains (even a large hill would do) or the beach (really though, I’d take a lake with someone playing wave noises in the background).  However, I live smack dab in the middle of the country, surrounded by wheat fields. They stretch out as far as you can see – which is miles and miles: because it’s flat. Really flat.

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No, I’m not a “farm girl”. I don’t even have any cute stories about the cows I raised from birth or rides on the combine with my grandfather. What I do have is the appreciation for what being born and raised in the Midwest has done to prepare me for motherhood.

midwest girl, kansas

Nothing Scares Us: We Grew Up with Tornado Sirens

Midwest moms have an uncanny ability to keep their cool. I credit tornadoes. Our parents teach us to react to tornado sirens seriously, but not chaotically. Take shelter? Yes. Run around like a crazy person? No. A true tornado alley veteran’s reaction to tornado sirens is usually an eye roll and a sigh. “Here we go again” they might say. I find myself having the same reaction to my child’s tantrums. My heart rate doesn’t even increase. It’s just another outburst. They’ve happened before, they’ll happen again. And, odds are, we’ll all end up ok in the end.

Farm Supply Stores are AWESOME

I already admitted, I’m not a farm girl. In fact, I’d never even been into one of these stores until I was a mom. Why? Sensory. Table Filler. If you’ve ever bought 35 bags of dried corn at the grocery store, you’re doing it wrong.

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As an added bonus, when the weather is too extreme to be outside (so, like, a lot of the time) visiting the baby bunnies and chicks is like a miniature zoo adventure. Plus, if you get stuck in the snow in the parking lot, there are at least 7 giant trucks (3 with plows attached to the front) that would be more than happy to come to your rescue.

We’re Used to Extremes

“If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute” is a phrase you grow up hearing in the Midwest. If you’ve ever had to scrape ice off your windows in the morning and then change into shorts that afternoon – you get it. This flexibility and inability to be phased by extreme changes makes motherhood a little less stressful. When the baby goes from squealing with excitement to screaming in frustration, you don’t panic. Instead of getting lost in the polarity of it all, you can use your energy for something more useful, like explaining to your toddler why putting his dump truck in the toilet is not “giving it a bath”.

Bored? What’s Bored? We Can Make Fun From NOTHING!

“What do you do for fun? Are you just bored out of your mind?” is a question I often get from people who weren’t raised here in “God’s Country”. Now, as a stay at home mom, the question has morphed into “What do you do all day? Are you just bored out of your mind?”

No, I’m not bored out of my mind…most of the time. We can turn anything into an adventure. Feeding ducks is the highlight of the day for the under 5 crowd!

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When we’re stuck inside, we get out a tablecloth and play with pasta on the floor. We can turn almost anything in the recycling bin into a musical instrument in about ten minutes flat. Learning to MAKE the fun is a skill I think Midwesterners have perfected.

The Smell of Manure is a Mere Distraction

No one likes the smell of feces in the air, but almost anywhere you live in the Midwest, you’ve had at least a few days in your life where you were “down wind” from some funky aromas. Poop. There it is, I’ve just said it. Lucky for you, all that olfactory desensitization prepared you for parenthood! I like to think that I can handle a nasty diaper change with a tad less gagging because of those days where the breeze was just right…or just wrong.

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“Polite, Friendly, and Helpful” Describe Almost Everyone We Know

One of the most hurtful things you could say to me, and I assume many Midwestern mamas, would be to call us rude. When we see someone who needs help, we jump in. You just had a baby? Here’s a casserole! A family member just passed away? Let’s sit and talk about all their funniest memories (and by the way I brought a casserole). When your kids see the values you are trying to instill in them actually being carried out around them day after day, it makes your job as a parent easier. We become like the people we surround ourselves with, which is a good thing here in “the middle of nowhere”. I don’t have to be the polite police, because my kids are growing up in a community where even strangers are teaching my children how to care for others.

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So, thank you Kansas. Thank you to the people and places that have helped mold us into the mothers we are today. From tornadoes to the lingering smell of manure, there’s no place like home.

midwest girl, kansas

Allison Brown
Allison grew up in the Wichita area with her husband. After graduating from K-State, they moved to Kansas City for five years. She left her job as a child development and parenting teacher to stay at home with their son, Eli. Their family moved back home to Derby where Eli is growing up close to family. As an added bonus, they also bask in the freedom that is the deepest bench of free babysitters imaginable. Attempting to find their "new normal" in an old and familiar hometown keeps them busy. She loves bargain hunting, making everything into an event (preferably with a theme), taking "an obscene amount" of photos of her son, and sugar.