When You're NOT The Perfect Mother

You are going to have days when you rock the whole Mom thing.  You will prepare three wholesome and nutritious meals - which your child actually consumes.  The house will be clean.  The laundry will not only be washed, but also folded and put away.  You will do arts and crafts with your offspring. Or at least get down in the floor and play.  You will be cute and look pulled together. Your little one will be quiet and we'll behaved while you run errands.  You will be calm and quiet.  After the tiny angel goes to bed with little or no fuss, you will look back on the day and give a little fist pump of victory worthy of the closing freeze frame from The Breakfast Club.

You might have some days like that. But if you are like most of us - those days will be very few... and very far between...

There are going to be days when breakfast - and maybe lunch too -  is dry cereal or a peanut butter sandwich.  Some days that might even pass as dinner as well.  If you can actually get them to eat anything without resorting to force feeding.

There might be days when you're not sure you'll be able to find the washing machine behind the pile of dirty laundry.  When your kid can practice his or her writing skills in the dust in your coffee table.

Days when the t shirt without spit up stains and yoga pants are what passes for high fashion on your life.  When you find yourself struggling to remember your last shower.

When you let them watch one more episode of that cartoon just so you can sit still and rest for a couple of minutes.  (or finally get in that shower mentioned above)

Days your little sweetie is squirmy, whiny, or demanding at the store.  Maybe he or she even has a full blown temper tantrum.

When bed time is a struggle you're not sure you're winning.

Sometimes you're probably going to lose your cool and raise your voice.

But here's the thing ...  that's ok!  It doesn't make you a bad mom.  It makes you human.

The only perfect mothers are the ones invented by television writers or our own imaginations.  I promise you that even the mom who seems to have it all together has days when she feels like she's struggling.  We are all just doing the best we can.

Stop trying to be the world's best mother - and just be the best mother you are capable of being today.

She's pretty awesome.  (Just ask her kids)

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A New Venture

I woke up with a sinus headache.  Which doesn't bode very well for the day ahead.  But I wasn't going to let a little pressure stop me.  I drank some coffee, read my Bible, took some decongestant, and headed to the computer. 

I had the brainstorm about a week or two ago to collaborate with my two sisters and the female offspring to launch a new blog! A few text messages, a conversation or two, a little brainstorming later - and  today is launch day!

A Wise Woman Once Said... is what happens when three clever sisters (and maybe a niece or two... or three...) get together to share the tips, tricks, and lessons we are learning along life's journey.  Here, you'll find a hodge-podge of recipes, crafts, decor, style, organization, greener living, and parenting.  With the possibility for just a random thought or two along tossed in for good measure.

I hope each of you will stop by to visit.  And to follow us!

I'm A Bad Mother

I don't like the Little Man very much today. 

There I said it. 

He's surly and irritable.

He talks back.  When he talks.  Often I'm lucky to get a groan or a growl out of him.  Sometimes it's just a scowl.

He leaves a mess behind him where ever he goes.  I suppose it's because the mess has gotten too big for his room to contain it any longer.

I'm trying very hard to stay calm and composed.  It's getting more and more difficult. 

That's right - I'm a Bad Mother.

Call the social workers. Order up some future therapy sessions for him. He drew a bad lot and is stuck with the mom who openly admits that he's not her favorite person today.


I can already imagine all the parenting tips and advice that a post like this could produce as feedback.  Save it.  I've read the parenting books too.  That's not really what I need to hear right now.

Look down your nose at me and shake your head. Judge me. Whatever. 

Right now I feel like a miserable failure as a parent on my own.  You can either feed that feeling of doubt and frustration, or  you can be kind and gentle with me.  If you've been a parent for any significant length of time and you are completely honest with yourself - I'm willing to bet that you've had days when you feel like a bad parent too.  When you were at your wit's end and didn't know what to do.  When you (gasp!) didn't like that offspring of yours very much at the moment.  Would you want to be judged at that time?   I didn't think so.

Don't get me wrong. I love the kid. I DO!   That's not going to change.  I just really don't like the way he is acting or his attitude right now.


Tomorrow (or maybe even later today), he'll be back to his smiling, funny self.  He may want to sit next to me on the couch and ask me to scratch his back.  Everything will be back to normal.

But right now, I'm sending him to his room to do some cleaning.  He'll probably pout and mutter something under his breath.  He'll stomp off with grumbles of how "it's not fair". 

Me?  I'm going to put on my Bad Mommy Crown.  I've earned it.

Programmed To Make You Crazy

If you are a new mother, or an expecting mother - I think it's important for you to know this.  I wish someone had warned me.  Being able to mentally prepare myself for this aspect of motherhood would saved me a lot of mental anguish and distress.  OK... probably not.  But it still would have been nice to know.  So, I feel it is my duty to warn you.

If there is a particular kid's television show which you find annoying, creepy, or disgusting - your kid is going to love it.  Not only that, but the amount to which it drives you completely insane in the shortest time possible is exactly how much your offspring is going to enjoy it and will directly affect how often he is going to want to watch it.

Oh sure.  I can hear you thinking it... "MY child is never going to watch that show!"  Uh huh.  Let me tell you a little story about another naive mom:

There is a certain purple dinosaur who shall remain nameless.  And there was a a certain young mom (yes, I was young.  This was some time ago - alright??)  who felt that Mr Purple Dinosaur was a tool of all things evil sent here to destroy joy and peace. 

The sound of his stupid, irritating voice would grate on her very bones.  If she had one nerve left, Mr Purple Dinosaur was sitting smack right on it.  And that song he sang.  That song climbed inside your brain and ate away at it like a demonic ear worm.  The young mother could hear it in her dreams nightmares

The young mom swore her beautiful little princess would never watch the show with Mr Purple Dinosaur.  Nope.  "Not my kid", she swore.  Until the day the little Princess saw Mr Purple Dinosaur.  And adored him.  She wanted to watch him every day.  She wanted to sing his smarmy little song loudly and with enthusiasm.

Fortunately the fascination did not last long, and the mother survived to see the next annoying kid's show that came along.  And there is always another one waiting around the corner.  I think somewhere in the creative offices at Nickelodeon studios there sits a bunch of people carefully considering what will be the next great thing to make parents' skin crawl.

So, there you have it.  You have been warned.  The only way to avoid it is to toss out the television, and make sure your child is not exposed to any influences outside the home until... well.. until they leave home!