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Some days are great. Everyone is ready to go ten minutes before we have to leave. Lunches are pack, dinner is in the crockpot, you have on your favorite jeans and a blouse with your adorable new shoes. You look and feel the part. Those days are great.
Some days are not so great… some days you are barely hanging on. You were up at 1:00 am changing sheets, at 3:00 am fixing someone’s blanket that fell off and at 6:30 am for the day. You’re tired all day long and feel like you are just trying to keep up.
You were too tired to unload the dishwasher when you woke up and now dishes are piled up in the sink. So you don’t leave yet – you need to stick around for a minute longer to clean it up.
Then, to add to it, you realize that your daughter just spilled her oatmeal down her dress and you should have left the house five minutes ago. Late again.
Dinner isn’t in the crockpot and to be completely honest, it isn’t even on your mind. It’s one of those days where you’ll be throwing something together (or picking something up) at 5:00.
THE WORST PART WAS WHEN YOU THEN JUDGED YOURSELF EVEN MORE HARSHLY. Maybe you lost your temper or just weren’t as patient as normal? Maybe you didn’t get the things done on your to-do list?
If this sounds even remotely familiar, you need to know two things:
- You are not a failure. Most of us feel this way far more than we ever admit.
- All the ways you failed?? How awful you did today or last week? It’s just not true. You’re doing better than you think.
I was reminded of this tonight when I tucked our kids in and each one of them said something along the lines of “Thank You” or “I Love You” without being prompted by my words first.
Our kids love us unconditionally – just as we love them. They don’t care about all of those other details.
They think that we are great cooks when we made spaghetti… again.
They think that we are great homemakers when we change their sheets… again.
They think that we are great teachers when we help them with their homework… again.
Those little things that we do every day … those are the ways that we show our love for them.
Yes, they are the ‘thankless’ jobs that happen daily, but they are not unnoticed. It shows our family that we love them.
At the end of the day, our kids only care about one thing: YOU LOVE THEM. That’s it. They can see it in everything that we do and everything that we say.
Today, don’t be so hard on yourself- don’t expect so much of yourself. Be happy that you are you and that your family loves you for it. Then, be the best YOU that YOU can be. Smile & enjoy your day! PLAY today! Laugh! Make memories.
It’s the best thing that you can do for your family…. and yourself.
This is such a truly important reminder, on a few levels. The first is that we really do all have these days, every single mom in the history of motherhood has had a “bad” day. No one is perfect, and no is alone. When it comes down to it, it’s all part of the process and remembering that the bigger things like showing up for our kids, and showing them true love is the most important, not whether or not the dishes got done.