Motherhood Lessons: Nobody’s Perfect

Motherhood Lessons is a regular series of posts we share here on Mom’s Talk Network – every day lessons shared by real moms.

My motherhood experience is extremely limited, and by that I mean I’ve been mothering my son for exactly 506 days. I don’t have years and years of parenting under my belt. I don’t even know what it’s like to suffer through a toddler tantrum in public, to potty train or to send a kid off to school.

For sixteen and a half months we’ve been on this journey together. Figuring things out as we go, figuring each other out as we go. One day, this short amount of time will feel like a blink of an eye, but as I sit and reflect on my experiences as a mom, I am overcome with pride at the very important lesson that motherhood has taught me: nobody’s perfect.

We’re all just kind of winging it, doing the best we can with what we have to ensure that our kids are growing into kind, smart and considerate children. While we’re doing this, we’re also trying desperately to ensure the vitality of our relationships with our significant other, our family and our friends, maintain a quasi-clean and relatively safe home and, for some, hold down a job where our boss definitely cares if we change out of our yoga pants.

Whether we stay-at-home full time, work full time or walk a fine line between the two, we are overcome with mommy guilt that our decision isn’t what’s best for our kids. That we aren’t doing enough, cleaning enough, baking enough, volunteering enough or hugging enough to live up to the standard that those perfect moms are setting.

Here’s the thing: There is no “perfect” when it comes to motherhood.

What worked for me may not work for you and vice-versa. We hear all the time that all pregnancies are different and all babies are different, but what we don’t hear enough of is all moms are different, too, and none of us, not a single one of us have got this thing down pat.

We all have doubts and meltdowns and moments where we feel like we can’t possibly go one more second without a nap, or, at the very least, a tall glass of wine and a girlfriend to vent to.

We all wonder if the well-researched decisions we make with a clear head are going to be the best ones for our babies. We all wonder if there’s any more we can do.

We all make mistakes…and will continue making many, many more before our time as a mom has expired.

Motherhood is a hard, challenging commitment full of self-sacrifice, but the payoff, even after 16-months is indescribable happiness that personifies itself in the eyes of my son. When I hear that sometimes devious but always genuine laugh of his, I could care less if my house is a mess, I forgot (yet again…) to run that errand and that I’m still wearing the same clothes I woke up in.

Let’s all take a deep breath, hug your babies and tell yourself that you’re doing OK.

I am now tagging these creative, insightful moms for them to share their motherhood lessons:

• MBA Mommy
• Red Dirt Revival

I know you have learned a lot as a mom, so I invite you to participate in the meme and post a ‘Motherhood Lesson’ on your blog.  (Please grab the graphic and link back to this post!) When you do, please tag three more moms that you’d like to see share a lesson too.