Because the Best Mom is a Happy Mom
Often, I feel guilty about taking a girl’s night because of time away from my kids.
I’m afraid I’ll miss something important or even worse, my husband will resent me for taking this time for myself.
They’re baseless fears.
Taking time alone is essential to being a happy mom.
Can we talk bath time for a second?
How difficult is it to convince your kids to bathe? Hard?
With this bath bomb recipe, you’ll feel like super mom because you’re kids will countdown the minutes till they can get in the tub.
We all worry about whether we spend enough time with our kids.
On the phone with my mom one night, she said to me:
“You’re such a good mom. You spend so much time with your kids. I never did with that you.”
My mom worked as an administrative assistant at the hospital 4 miles down the road. Every night, she came home around 5:30pm, cooked dinner and then we all relaxed while watching Murphy Brown or Friends.
Truth is: I thought she spent enough time with me.
I felt pretty happy and content.
And frankly, I feel like a failure with this whole mom business.
My son stomps into my office upstairs. I’m staring at the computer trying to figure out what to write next.
His face is full pout.
“MOM! I told them I need a break!”
Uh oh. Usually when this happens, he’s prepping me for something – trying to convince me that he’s on the right side.
It’s a fight. I can feel it.
Do you have an unbelievably hard time throwing out your children’s work from school?
Remember when it was a miracle when they could first write their name and now they’re producing work like crazy?
You have papers stacked on the kitchen counter.
Papers flowing out of the office.
Artwork made of macaroni thumbtacked on the walls.
What to do with it all?
“No, sweetie, that hurts.”
My five-year-old son puts down the flashlight. His latest game involves shining the flashlight on opposite walls of our living room and having our very crazy pup chase it.
However, she gets a little too excited and ends up jumping on me – all sixty pounds of her.
At five, my son improves everyday at realizing that his actions have consequences.
He learned this by constantly making mistakes and getting corrected.
Stories are also a fantastic way to teach those skills.
“Mom, can I invite a friend over today?”
I hesitate. I want her to be able to invite friends over, but today is simply jam packed.
Nope. Not today.
Five minutes later. “Mom, can I have a playdate?”
What the…? Didn’t I just answer this same question five minutes earlier?
My daughter used to leave the kitchen table and throw herself on the couch.
“I can’t DO it,” she wailed, “It’s TOO hard.”
Every afternoon became a neverending negotiation – one I dreaded.
I just wanted to pour myself a glass of wine and hide in the closet.
What do you do at that point?
Being uncomfortable in your own body is the worst.
You deny invites to parties.
Start avoiding any reflective windows or mirrors.
And just want to wallow in your stretchy, comfort workout clothes all day.
So you start trying all the things…
ALL the weight loss plans and programs out there. Sure, it works as first but then as soon as you stop, you GAIN ALL THE WEIGHT BACK.
With all those setbacks, you start feeling like you can’t do it
I was there 2 weeks ago.
But then, THEN…
You know you need to change something with your kid’s behavior.
Maybe your kids are fighting.
Perhaps you want them to be kinder.
Or maybe, you just want them to pick up all the LEGO’s off the floor after playing so you don’t have to experience one between your toes again.
Whatever it is a simple reward system might do the trick.
