Mother’s Day

Back in 2015 my youngest daughter gave me an acrostic that read like this:

M eans the world to me

O bviously in love with Dad

T he best mom ever

H elps me in every possible way

E ver so caring and tender

R eally calm but firm

She was 9 years old at the time. At 17 now I am not sure she agrees with all of the above statements, parenting a teenager is hard! But parenting a newborn, toddler, elementary school age, middle school age, and adult children is hard!  Parenting a baby in the womb is hard. Trying to become a parent is hard. Deciding if you want to become a parent is hard. Yet we are all led to believe that this is easy, glamorous and enjoyed all the time. There is a quote floating around out there that says “I love every second of being a mom.”  That is what we are supposed to believe how we should feel. As a mom and a professional I am here to tell you that is not true!

To follow up on that, if you take anything away from these few minutes of reading- know that it is ok to not love every second. It is ok to not love being pregnant, not love the newborn phase, not love breastfeeding or whatever the case may be.  It is not uncommon to hear fathers say “I wish they came out at 6 months old.”  Because so many fathers are afraid of hurting them when they are so small. But if a mother says something like that they are viewed as horrible people. Moms are supposed to love it all! 

If you read the sweet words above, you may think I loved every second of being a mom. I am here to tell you that is not true for me either. But it obviously did not make me a bad mom or horrible person, at least in the eyes of my daughter. And that is what matters most!