I’m not a Perfect Mom. But I’ve learned that can be a good thing…
For Mother’s Day last weekend my youngest son made me the most beautiful card with the help of his teachers. It made me cry. His teacher wrote his answers but I could see they were his… and that he cut it out himself, which made me proud. He is four this year. With the biggest blue eyes you’ve ever seen.
His card made me cry because of what had happened the night before. We were all sick. Coughing our lungs out. And it was freezing cold. I had us bundled up the entire day at home and just saw a sleepy evening ahead with hot water bottles and bedtime stories. It was going to be lovely. Except that it wasn’t.
By the time I had both boys (aged 4 and almost 6) ready for stories in my eldest son’s room, I thought I had it all sorted. Heaters were on. Their owlie hot water bottles were inside their beds to warm them up and make them sleepy. I even had a pile of books ready from the library. The real Library. The kind where you need a library card and everything. All my (frequent) fines were paid up and they gave me a bunch of “new” books for my kids. For just a moment, I felt like a Perfect Mom. I had it all together.
Then my youngest son kicked my eldest son’s open water bottle off the table and I just heard this glug, glug, glug sound… as the water cascaded down off the side table and all over the pile of library books below.
I lost it. I screamed so loud my youngest started crying and my eldest ran out of the room as fast as his legs would carry him. I lost it in a way that I would never admit… except to a few thousand strangers on the internet. I Lost. It. Hero to Zero. In three seconds.
Then I apologised. I got my youngest into his own bed and told him how sorry I was for over reacting. I told him I knew he had kicked the water over by mistake. I said I had been wrong to shout so loud and that the library books would be ok. I told him I was really, really sorry. He said what I have taught him and his brother to say to each other for years now: “I forgive you. But don’t do it again.”
After my youngest was asleep I heard my eldest coughing from his room. I went in with cough syrup to help him sleep.
“I love you, Mamma” he said.
“Oh, My boy… I love you so much. I’m so happy you’re my boy. But I make so many mistakes. I’m so sorry.”
“That’s ok, Mamma. I love you because you want to be the best Mamma and you try your best. I’m so lucky to have you as my Mamma.”
OK, so maybe I cried a lot this past weekend. Not only on Mother’s Day.
It’s OK not to be a Perfect Mom… because one of the most important things you can teach your children is that no-one is perfect and that it’s OK to make mistakes.
With love,
The Not Perfect Mom X
Janice Windt is a Jesus follower, wife to a wonderful husband and mom to two precious sons born 17 months apart and to two beautiful rescue pups. She is also the Founder and CEO of The Working Mothers Expo, where the very best products and services for working mothers are now available ONLINE. We’ve done the research, so you don’t have to. www.workingmothersexpo.com
It’s good to be reminded that we are not alone. And that a mom too is only human. The mom guilt kills me…thanks for sharing