Okay, this is not a curse. I repeat, this is not a curse. It\u2019s totally a blessing, but. . .it is A LOT to live up to. I was talking to a girlfriend the other day about what we do for our kid\u2019s birthdays and holidays. We felt at different times like we weren\u2019t doing enough. She has two kids and I have five. When I had only two, I remember freaking out on Christmas Eve every year because I thought back to my own Christmases. There was only me and my sister, but my mom looked like she robbed Toys \u2018R Us. It\u2019s not just in my imagination memory, I have pictures to prove it. I think we had every Barbie of the 80\u2019s in our playroom.<\/p>\n
I was comparing myself to my mom and never thought I could measure up. I was a stay-at-home mom and was crabby\/frustrated\/unfulfilled in my mid-twenties. I voiced my insecurities about how she was always nice and I felt like I was always mean. She said, \u201cIt\u2019s because I wasn\u2019t always with you.\u201d She was and is a successful business woman who I\u2019d put on a pedestal years 1-12 and 20-30 something. From 12-20, I did still think she was amazing at times, but you know teenagers. I don\u2019t do it anymore because it doesn\u2019t serve me, her, or my kids. You get mad at people more often when you put them on a pedestal because then they can\u2019t be human.<\/p>\n
I remember the \u201cgood mom\u201d looked like my mom, who lavished us with cool stuff, vacations, and love. I knew she was a smarty pants, but I also compared myself to the stay-at-home moms I knew in my twenties. I thought I could never keep up or reach that status. I couldn\u2019t financially afford it. It seemed like people were always taking their kids to a museum, doing a cool class, or whatever and I doubted if I was cut out to be a mom. I also wasn\u2019t as crafty, clever, or patient for some of what went along with my idea of all that. I was just trudging through at times. I never doubted I had enough love, just seemed to lack some of the patience, organization, and momish skills some had. I thought this \u201cgood mom\u201d shouldn\u2019t have tattoos, curse, be angry EVER, have sex appeal, and she should look like a modern day Donna Reed, only in khakis. I laugh at some of my silly notions now.<\/p>\n
Every generation has strived to be more in some way than her mom was, usually in the way of career, success, or even the home you live in and we\u2019ve all had more opportunities than those women who came before us. I mean, really if you had a crappy mom, it\u2019s easy to do better than she did. If she wasn\u2019t able to afford to do certain things that you wanted, maybe you can easily strive to give more to your kids. But what if you had the nicest, most giving mom, who spoiled you with love AND stuff? What do you do then?<\/p>\n
You be the best version of YOU that you can. Comparing yourself to your mom or the \u201cgood moms\u201d in the neighborhood isn\u2019t good for your kids. Teach them by your example. Instead of trying to play the role of the \u201cperfect\u201d mom, give them a juicy version of a person. They don\u2019t want a one-dimensional ideal. Love yourself. You\u2019re good enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Okay, this is not a curse. I repeat, this is not a curse. It\u2019s totally a blessing, but. . .it is A LOT to live up to. I was talking to a girlfriend the other day about what we do for our kid\u2019s birthdays and holidays. We felt at different times like we weren\u2019t doing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n