Supermom has been a term bantered about for a while. It’s the term given to mothers who handle it all while looking great in a wrinkle-free outfit. They raise their children, work fulfilling jobs, and have successful marriages. They don’t pass off store-bought desserts as their own by putting them on a plate (shut up, you do NOT want to consume my baking). Instead, they can allow you in their houses at a moment’s notice because it’s always clean.
I want to call bullsh*t on this term and this practice.
Perfection is unattainable and has no place in the business of being a mother (or being female).
I can promise you that we are all allotted the same number of hours each day. Yes, you can borrow from sleep in exchange for cleaning. Or you can swap reading to your children for baking the perfect pie. And you can substitute your sanity for countless other insignificant things.
Motherhood is a delicate budget, not unlike your finances. Except you can’t borrow against some credit card of time, patience, and sanity. Plan carefully and early, or you’ll never pay off the Motherhood Mortgage.
You will go mentally, emotionally, and physically bankrupt.
Here’s a hint. Use the extra hands in your household to carry your burden. Why? Because you are not only preserving yourself but preparing your children and/or partner for their futures.
Let me put it this way. If you hand off a twenty-eight-year-old coddled grown-up who can’t wash dishes or do laundry, how long is their partner going to put up with that behavior? If your partner is not pulling their weight, will you want to serve them the rest of your life?
Life is hard, and adults should not have to raise other adults.
Do yourself a favor. ALWAYS trade cleaning for bonding time with your kids. Not only are you going to be less resentful (it will bubble up sometime – trust me), but your kids will remember the playtime more than a dust-free room.
They have a saying about motherhood, “The days are long, but the years are short.”
I’m standing on the other side saying, “You better believe it.”
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