Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Mother of all Guilt




My friend and I have a parenting mantra - 'Everything in moderation.'
What this means to us is this:
A little sugar, a little media, a little naughtiness and a little discipline and your child will hopefully grow into a balanced, autonomous being.
Why is it then that we mothers can only experience a lot of guilt?
No matter what we do it comes guilt attached.
When we are home making cookies with our children we worry it's too much sugar.
When we are out, we worry we didn't dress them properly and that they are too hot/cold/wet/muddy.
When we carefully pack their lunch boxes we worry that the meal is not balanced enough.
Forgetting sun-block, worrying about the number of hours spent in daycare or with a sitter, being too tired for two stories at bedtime, not having their favorite t-shirt clean - the list is endless.
What's the cure?
How about we cut ourselves some slack. Lets try going for a passing grade rather than an A+.
Seriously, let's all agree to stop overachieving and just try to be human. Let's allow ourselves missteps, mistakes, bad moods, forgetfulness, fatigue and all those other human attributes we were allowed before we were parents.
For a real novelty let's allow ourselves to be sick when we are.
Try it. Encourage your friends to slack off a little and let's see where it gets us.
Send me your (lower) test scores.

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