The Imperfect Mom

We all have our ideas of what being a perfect mom is and how far we have to go to measure up. But how do we know if we are an Imperfect Mom? Have you ever sat your children down in front of the TV and said “Watch this and don’t move so Mommy can have five minutes of peace and quiet!” ? Have you ever had evenings when the kids bedtime was whenever they passed out on the floor - in their clothes - and it was 11 p.m.? Do you have evenings where you realize your kids haven’t brushed their teeth for the last three days because you forgot to tell them to? Have you ever screamed “If you all don’t settle down and be quiet I’m going to sell you to the next person who knocks on the door!”? 

If you answered “yes” to any one of these, welcome to my world - the world of The Imperfect Mom. 

Growing up, I used to wonder how Mrs. Brady made it all come together. It seemed as though she should live in a daily world of chaos with six kids all vying for attention, food and clean clothes. But Mrs. Brady never seemed flustered. In fact, she was calm, collected and cool as a cucumber. And well-dressed. 

Obviously Mrs. Brady was NOT a real mom. Real moms don’t all have a live-in housekeeper who takes care of the finer details of family life such as cooking, cleaning, and, well. . .cooking and cleaning! 

For some reason, while I was laboring to give birth to my first child, I also labored under the delusion that this mom job would be simple - and easy. Yeah, right! And the truth of the matter is almost as painful as the birth was. The plain fact - it takes work to be a mom.