I was chatting with a friend today (another mom) and we were talking about moms we know who seem to accomplish so much despite having so much on their plates.  I think we referred to them as “miracle workers”.  And, they are.  You all know the kind of mom that I am talking about.  The one that has 6 kids, keeps a clean House, makes all of her (organic) baby food from scratch, does crafts out the wazoo, home schools, heads up multiple charities, runs marathons, leaps tall buildings in a single bound, solves world peace…all in a day’s work.  I do not fault people who have the ability to do so much.  In fact, I think it is wonderful (or, annoying – no, wonderful – no, annoying – ok, wonderful).  But I have to admit that I feel a little insecure when I compare myself to them.  My house is not clean a lot of the time, I can’t even keep the peace in my house, never mind the world, and the only baby food I ever made from scratch was breast milk. 

So, I thought about the whole “miracle worker” conversation for most of the day and it was bothering me that I was not feeling like I was as “good” as other moms that I know…it wasn’t until about 6 or so hours later when I was crawling out of the baby’s room (yes, I was actually crawling – don’t even ask) to tend to my 4 year-old who was crying in her room after being sent there for name calling while dodging my 3 year-old who was running to go potty in the peepee teepee that is now in our living room (separate blog altogether), and it dawned on me; we are all miracle workers.  Every. Single. Parent.  The amount that we accomplish with the responsibility that we have is awesome regardless of whether that means we can run a marathon with 10 babies strapped to our back or if that means that we are lucky to walk a yard pushing a baby in a stroller.  Every single day Steve and I wake up and, in addition to getting ourselves ready, get three little, living, often uncooperative beings up, dressed, fed (ok – sometimes this doesn’t happen, but we do try!), out the door and dropped off to multiple locations.  And every night, after a full day of work, we pick them up, feed them, bathe them, play with them, read to them, and put them (read, force them) to bed just in time to clean the house, open up our laptops, and finish our workdays (we spend many romantic nights sitting next to each other and silently working at our laptops – it’s the kind of love you can only dream of;).  And I am not even accounting for the various other miscellaneous things that come along with parenting: illness, birthday parties, snow days, dance class, sibling fights, doctors’ appointments, potty training, and the list goes on and on. 

We all have different capabilities and strengths and parenting is no different from any other skill.  Some people are ok at it; others are great.  Some people are also great at time management, are exceptionally creative, have a knack for working with kids, or endless energy…all things that can make a good parent even better.  But my point is that even if you are really horrible at doing anything else beyond just the bare necessities of parenting, you are a miracle worker. A FREAKING MIRACLE WORKER.  Anything you can accomplish beyond that is pretty ah-maz-ing.  So give yourself a little bit of a break and give credit where credit is due.  Did your child(ren) leave the house dressed in clothes today (the size, cleanliness, and seasonality-made up word?-are irrelevant)?  If yes, you’re a miracle worker.  Did your child(ren) eat at least one meal that included food?  Miracle worker.  Were you able to use the bathroom by yourself at least once during the day?  Miracle worker.  Did you brush at least one thing on your child’s body?  Hair?  Teeth?  Other?  Miracle worker.  Did everyone survive to live another day and do it all again tomorrow?  Miracle worker…and pretty damn luckyJ

Until next time…