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Monday, March 18, 2013

You are not a failure!

I never got around to making that hand-stitched Valentine's Day garland for my fireplace.
I forgot  to cook green eggs and ham for Dr. Seuss' birthday.
I still haven't hung an Easter wreath on the door or plastic eggs in the tree in our front yard.

That's when the thought hit me: "I have FAILED." I mentally kick myself and hang my head in discouragement. 

Have any other moms felt that way?  Because we weren't the "hostess with the mostess" or didn't bake every dish from scratch, that we are not enough?

Wait.  Do we really go that far?  Do we, as moms, discount all of the good work we have done because there was something else that we didn't get to?  Not baking homemade four leaf clover cookies makes me a failure?!

It just isn't true.  All of that fun stuff that I sometimes manage to produce- ideas from Pinterest, holiday crafts, and so on, are just for fun.  They aren't really that important, are they?  Not anything major to lose sleep over, right?

Are the kids fed?  Bathed? Dressed?  Did they make it to school on time?  Did they get enough sleep?  Were you there when they cried to you in disappointment over not getting the school solo?  Did you watch and cheer when he kicked his first soccer goal?  Were you around to help them with that unsolvable math problem? Did you kiss them "Good night" and hug them "Good morning?"
 

If you did all of that and still got the dishes washed, then you WON!  You have succeeded in the ever-demanding role of mother.  You loved and you cared. That is far from failing.

Replicating the living room design you saw in home decor magazine can wait. 
Any time you spend on your family is something to be proud of.

3 comments:

ceci said...

If you did all that and DIDN'T get the dishes done, you WON! You win everytime you remember to LOVE and let them love you. :)

miller_schloss said...

Haha, I was going to say the same thing as Ceci...because it's usually the dishes not being done that make me feel like a fail.

Dani Byham said...

Haha! You are both so right! I don't think I get the dishes done most days either :-)