Mom Fail

WEEK 15!

My 17 Weeks of Learning to Live a Beautiful Life is almost over.

I'm currently basking in my post holiday endeavors.

Basking might be an ambitious term.

I have spent a few weeks days trying to get my act together.

My act is apparently on vacation until further notice.

I've decided to embrace the crazy...I'm throwing tinsel on the whole mess and calling it a party.

It's tough to come to terms with our expectations. It's especially difficult for us mommas out there.
My sister and I were talking about this just the other day.

Mom Fail.

We were talking about all the candy and cookie making my mom did back in the day. Divinity, fudge, peanut brittle, toffee, sugar cookies, Mexican wedding cookies....

My mom was not a stay-at-home mom. She was a Respiratory Therapist. In fact, for several years she was head of her department. This meant she would work double and triple shifts if needed. She took college courses on the side and even taught art classes.

I am a stay-at-home mom and consider it a triumph if a green vegetable shows up at supper.

How did she do it all?

If I were to ask her, I'm sure she would say, "I just did it."

I can't tell you how many times I have felt like a complete FAILURE when it comes to parenting. It seems all the more vicious to be because we worked so hard and waited so long to become parents to this beautiful boy.

I have lost my temper too many times to count.

I don't feed him the right foods.

I feel like I am struggling to school him the best I can (homeschool mom guilt).

He is growing up in this uncertain and scary world and all I can do is fuss at him to pick up his room.

Maybe I'm not alone. I have a feeling I'm not. The point is that there is a lot expectations we put on ourselves. We feel inadequate compared to those other moms out there.

You know the ones. They have spotless homes. Their kiddos are adjusted, well-behaved and learned all of their multiplication tables before the 2nd grade. They never get impatient with their families. They always look put together and classy.

My house has it's moments. Most of the time, I'm just happy we can find the toilet paper. And today I spent the whole day running errands in my workout pants, one of The Muffin's old t-shirts and mismatched socks.

And don't get me started about my parenting and homeschooling mom skills.

Here is the thing.

There are some things that I want to improve on. Nothing wrong with that.

Then there are those things that I just need to let go. We all have those things. And the truth is that we are missing life because our expectations are simply unreasonable.

I know you have heard this one.

"Spending quality time with your kids is better than spending quantity time."

Of course, there is truth to that statement. However, our quality time spent with our family members doesn't have to be all about epic adventures and awesome stuff.

Our kids just want US.

This week your challenge is to let some of the Mom Guilt go. If there are things that need to be addressed make a plan to do just that. I don't want to give you the impression that I think it's okay to be a Mom Slacker. Sometimes we do need to step it up.

On the other hand, we need to simplify our lives. Focus on those little moments and times with our kids.

We have to let go those expectations that things have to bigger and better for our kids.

I have struggled more with what I haven't been able to provide for Josiah.

Siblings.

I realized maybe I was overthinking the whole thing when, just recently, Josiah provided me with a whole dissertation on why it was cool to be an only child. He doesn't want a house full of kids. He is  perfectly happy with the way things are.

This week your assignment is to choose one activity to share with your child(ren). It doesn't have to be awe-inspiring...it just needs to be time shared together.

Let me know how it goes.

You can catch up with my Learning to Live a Beautiful Life Series here.