The last couple of weeks have been a blur. Every night I am busy with softball for my kids and I’m not complaining here, I am just merely stating a fact. My life is crazy busy with 4 kids and a hubby who works away half the month. I get asked all the time how I keep everything together. You want the truth? Some days I am a total rockstar and I have all my ducks in a row before I even step out of bed in the morning. Some days. Definitely not every day. But some days. On other days I am lucky if I get my breakfast dishes done and in the dishwasher by the time that my older kids stroll in from school at 3:20. And guess what?
Some days I count the day as a huge success if my kids get dressed. Some of you Moms may cringe at the thought of that. But after 4 kids and one set of twins, I have lowered my standards of what I think a successful day is. In fact, as I am writing this, it’s 3:10 pm and my twins are lying on the living room floor, sleeping under a blanket, with the TV still on after falling asleep while watching it, and one of them is still in their pyjamas. Ask me if I feel guilty? Nope. Ask me if I feel like less of a Mom? Not a chance. Ask me if I care what other people think of me? Not anymore.
Look, I am by far the perfect Mom. In fact, I like to think of myself as a highly imperfectly perfect Momma bear. What? The thing is, I gave up on trying to be the “perfect” Mom long ago. And really by who’s standards? That Mom down the street who I don’t know? Or maybe it was the Mom at school drop off in the morning – you know the one – always wearing nice clothes, heels and seeming to have everything in just the right order. Or maybe it was the Mom I saw in those photos on social media – you also know the one – perfectly smiling with her kids all lined up at all actually looking at the camera, not a hair out of place. Isn’t it silly how we constantly compare and judge? It’s all around us and it’s constantly in our faces.
Listen, stop comparing yourself to any of those other Moms. Stop putting yourself down because you feel like you could never do what so and so does. Stop assuming that those other moms have their ducks in a row just because you’ve seen a perfect picture on social media saying that they do. The truth of the matter is that it doesn’t matter if you’re like any of those other Moms. What matters at the end of the day is that you did the best you could with what you had. What matters is that your kids think you’re pretty darn perfect. And, the only people’s opinions you should worry about are the opinions of your kids and your significant other. In case you forgot, those are the people that matter.
So from one perfectly imperfect Momma to the next — chin up Momma you’re doing fine. You’ve got this Mom thing nailed down. Just put one foot in front of the other. Think of all the really great things you did with and for your kiddos today.
Focus on all the things you DID do instead of all the things you DIDN’T.
Lots of love from this Momma Bear!
