Late last night, I was laying in bed wondering to myself “Am I a good mom?”
Why is being a mom so hard? Some days I feel like I am a super mom, while most days I feel like I barely survive the day. I look on social media and see all these other moms who look like they have a perfect family. Their kids all match and are smiling at the camera, there appears to be no fighting, and everyone is having fun. Meanwhile, my five-year-old is pretending to be a tiger (or a dinosaur depending on the day) and scratching my three-year-old’s face. I seem to yell at the kids about 20 million times a day because they don’t seem to hear me telling them to do something the first 100 times I say it in a normal voice. And if someone isn’t fighting at least every 3.2 seconds, I am terrified they are plotting to do something they shouldn’t be.
Being a mom is hard.
Having young children is hard. Choosing to work or stay at home with the child(ren) is hard. Having to make any decision that is best for your child and/or family is hard. There are so many hot topics as a mom when it comes to making decisions for your child. Should you breastfeed or bottle feed, co-sleep or have them sleep in their own bedroom, vaccinate or not, how to punish your child, what to feed them, labor and delivery medication, the list can go on and on.
If your child is happy, healthy, and loved, you are doing an amazing job and you are a good mom. If someone’s child is happy, healthy, and loved, and you disagree with something they choose to do for their child, try giving a compliment instead of the unwanted advice.
There are many things a mom would rather hear from you. Try some of these:
- You are raising a good person/good people.
- You are a superhero.
- You look beautiful.
- You deserve a break.
- You should be so proud of yourself.
- Your child is so loved.
- You are not alone.
- You are a good mom.
It is easy to feel like a failure as a mom, to wonder if you are good enough, to think you are a horrible mom, and to feel like everyone else is doing much better at this whole parenting thing than you are. But I am here to tell you that you are doing a great job. That you are not a failure but instead, a winner. You have a beautiful family with a child/children that love you endlessly. There is no such thing as a perfect mom or perfect children.
There are just moms who are doing the best they can for their child(ren). And that makes you a good mom.
