Tips on Tuesday: Give me a break!

As I was knee deep in the 'woulda, shoulda, coulda's', I got an email. Just a quick little weekly note I get from MOPS International. In it, a mother laments having to give her daughter cheetos and raisins for lunch because life was interfering with a trip to the grocery store. And she had a profound realization...one meal of cheetos and raisins won't malnourish or mentally harm my child.

I don't know about you, but those are liberating words! As I am concerned and fretting about giving my kids extra kool-aid for a treat or having using M&Ms as a bribe for potty training...I forgot about the bigger picture. I tend to focus on every minute of every day being the 'perfect mom'. Do this, don't do this..."good moms" would or wouldn't do this.

Give me a break!

I need to remember that one bad moment or one meal of junk food won't kill my kids. One lapse in behavior where I 'lose it' won't send them to years of counseling or cause them harm or traumatize them for the rest of their lives.

So I want to encourage the rest of you. Give yourself a break! This motherhood stuff ain't easy. Did you ever think that some of the time, we are our own worst enemy? If you want to have 'junk food Friday' or 'Dessert before Dinner Day' or let the kids stay up late to watch for the ISS to fly by...on a school night...or whatever 'bad' thing of the day you do, give yourself a break!

Let's make a pact--if you (and I) can give ourselves permission to not be perfect, I'll share with you next week some of my greatest offenses in the less than perfect parenting department. I promise, I've done all sorts of stuff that I could use to label myself as a bad mom. If you have some really great moments in your own life, send me an email and let me know if I can share them, too.

Let's all take a deep breath together and let ourselves off the hook.