When you have a tight deadline looming and you toss paper plates with peanut butter sandwiches on them in front of your family and call it dinner, how do you feel?
If you are anything like the millions of other moms in the world, and I am sure you are, you feel guilty. You are sure that at the very moment you threw together those sandwiches every other mom in the known universe was treating their families to homemade gastronomic delights like pot roast and apple pie.
They aren’t. At least I’m not. We may be the only two, but we’re in this thing together.
For 27 years I raised kids and homeschooled. My days were filled with activities that centered on my home and family, and included homemade pot roast an apple pie. When I started working, my at home duties didn’t change but I added a full time working schedule. I couldn’t figure out why I kept melting down.
We are all working hard, busy, and none of us is perfect. In this society (and maybe in every other one –who knows?) mom guilt is a fact of life. No matter what we do or how much we do we’ll always want to do more for those we love.
A friend put it in perspective for me when I was crying on her shoulder on night.
“Are you giving 100%?†she said.
“Yes, of course.â€Â
Then she asked, “How much would you give if you had 150% to give?â€Â
“All 150% of it.â€Â
She smiled. Point taken. No matter what I do I will always give everything I have to give to my family and feel bad because I want to give them so much more.
photo credit: Brianna Privett
