“If you can accept that you can’t do it all, you have less of a feeling of personal failure”
Now that you have read this, repeat this every time you look down and the floors are dirty.
When you forget to brush the kid’s teeth, think of this.
When you realize your vehicle is more like a dumpster on wheels than a family vehicle, look through the empty Capri Sun pouches and foil Pop-Tart wrappers and remember this.
When you slip on a pair of boots older than your children, recite this to yourself.
When it hits you the ENTIRE family needs flu shots, eye appointments, dentist appoints etc… SCREAM this to yourself (before/after you write yourself a reminder to schedule these)
The debate of working moms versus stay at home moms is a big one. This debate isn’t going anywhere either. Both sides have their pros and their cons, studies and statistics. I am a working mother that envies the mothers that get to join the PTO, have lunch with their friends, work out and clean their homes on a daily basis. Do trust, this is my hearts biggest desire at this point in my life. But I also have stay at home mom friends that want nothing more than to have a way out of the house and for some reason envy my day that starts with a 5:15 am wake-up call (crazy peeps). I have always thought this goes a bit deeper than the old “The grass is greener on the other side” adage. Yet after reading this study I feel slightly better not just that I work but that I tend to over look messes on Mondays, tornadoes of toys on Tuesdays, webs of clutter on Wednesdays, thunderous piles of papers on Thursdays and frantic searching Fridays.
This article can easily be summed up and speak out to both working and stay at home moms. If and when you can accept that there is no way you can do it all you are less likely to be depressed- An idea so simple to read, simple to say yet sometimes impossible to live. Am I consumed with guilt when I drop Baby Boy off at daycare and he cries for me? DUH! I often have a tear filled coffee cup, streaks of mascara down my face and a cloudy disposition to prove it. Am I willing to quit my job (that I love) and stay home while the bills pile up? Nope. For the mothers able to be home with their children and live comfortably kudos to you! It’s just not my reality and for more and more middle class families in this economy this isn't reality either. Do I get judgmental looks and comments from other mothers when I reveal I just got off of work and had to race to get my daughter to practice 10 minutes late? At least once a week. Do I let this get to me? Not anymore. (do not even get me started on mommy bullies… Well I will start that another day).
Last point (I promise!)- “Rather than feeling guilty that you’re spending time at work or that you can’t cook dinner one night, it helps to remember that if you’re happier, your kids will be happier”
Do I really need to explain this one? Honestly, my kids are perfectly fine to be left in the care of other responsible adults 8 hours a day while they grow and develop their social skills and begin learning their life lessons. They have a happy parents, why wouldn’t they be happy?
Ref- “Why Working Moms are Happier” by Laurie Tarken.
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