Surrendering to the Powers That Be—Also Known as Children

There are days I wake up ready to take on the world: lunches made, routines mapped, laundry somewhat tamed. And then… the kids wake up. Suddenly, I’m not the boss of anything. And that’s when it hits me: parenting, especially in military life, is often more about surrender than control.

I’m a military spouse and a mom of two. And in my humble opinion, military kids? They’re absolute superheroes.

Not the kind that wear capes (though they’ve got plenty of those in the dress-up bin), but the kind that adapt, pivot, and grow through more change than many adults ever face. New schools, new friends, new houses, new routines—over and over again. And in between all that, they often manage to smile, make the best of it, and find a way to keep going. That’s superhero stuff.

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to create stability for my kids. I’ve made charts, created a schedule to maintain routines, laminated things I probably didn’t need to. But here’s the truth: sometimes it all falls apart. Plans unravel, moods shift, schedules get tossed. And on those days, I wave the white flag and declare it a “WHATEVER day.”

We all have them. Some of us just admit it louder than others.

Military life has a funny way of humbling you. Just when you think you’ve got things under control, the orders change, the calendar flips, or your kid starts a new school for the third time in two years. I’ve learned sometimes the hard way, that letting go can be just as powerful as holding it all together.

And while I’m reflecting here, I’ll say this too: I think military kids deal with a lot more than we often realize. Behind all that resilience can be confusion, fatigue, or quiet stress that doesn’t always have a name. Changing schools constantly means starting from scratch every time… new teachers, new systems, and not always enough time for someone to notice if your child is struggling. It’s easy for learning challenges to go undetected when you’re always the new kid.

Add in the endless doctor transitions, waitlists, and trying to explain your child’s whole history in a 15-minute appointment with someone you just met? It’s exhausting. And honestly, I don’t think we talk about that part enough.

But again, I’m not here to give parenting advice. I’m just one mom trying to keep up with one tiny force of nature and a teenager. Some days we nail it. Other days, I consider a trip to Dunkin alone my version of self-care and spiritual renewal (a donut fixes most things).

What I’ve learned is this: There is no perfect parenting style, no flawless method that makes military life neat and tidy. There’s just what works for you, for your family, in your current zip code… until it changes again.

So if you’re also out there trying to balance stability with chaos, structure with spontaneity, and grace with grit, I see you. Some of us are simply raising our kids one PCS, one meltdown, one miracle at a time.

And honestly? That feels like enough.