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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I'm not "That Mom"

I was watching TV yesterday afternoon (as I folded laundry and silently cursed the Scott's guy for fertilizing my lawn on the hottest day of the year BEFORE I could water it) and I began to notice a similarity in the commercials that were coming on. All of them showed "moms" doing "mom things". In one, a group of moms took care of scrapes with military precision; in another, a perfectly groomed, fit (young) mom fed her smiling children plates of food made beautiful with fresh fruits and veggies; in yet another, a mom picked up her kids (and half the neighborhood) in her clean, state-of-the art, fashionable mini van.
As I watched these perfect TV moms, it came to me that I'm not "That Mom". I'm very rarely sympathetic when my kids scrape their knees (it's a long way from your heart, as my dad would say), I'm NEVER perfectly groomed (or fit), it takes my kids a whole week to get ONE day's serving of fruits and vegetables, and in spite of the fact that we spent a small fortune getting the van cleaned, I can no longer see out the windows because of the bugs and dirt all over them (inside and out).
But you know, I don't want to be "That Mom". So what if I scream and yell and cry? So what if I'm fat and dirty and stinky (sometimes)? So what if my kids eat junk food and I occasionally (gasp) SPANK them? To all those impossibly perfect TV Moms I say, go jump in a lake!
It turns out that I love my kids more than anyone else in this whole world ever could and they know it! In my own imperfect way, I take care of them and provide for them (with Brian's help, of course!), nurture them and teach them. And, I LIKE my noisy, rowdy, stinky, dirty, messy life! I refuse to live any other way!

Although, I would enjoy never having to clean poop out of underwear again.

3 comments:

Anna Dutson said...

I'm glad that I'm not "That Mom" either.

And I agree, we should get together sometime, either you should come over here or I should come out there one day when we have the car!

Rebecca said...

HO! I'm SOOO not THAT mom. Sometimes that reality line gets blurred for me and it's hard not to compare myself against this standard: where I will NEVER match up.
I'm just grateful that there are amazing women like you in MY club, not theirs!

Christy said...

I love this :) I'm not "that mom" either. I'm far from it. But I've met the people who try to be that, and I tell you it's not worth it.

Our kids are happy with us the way we are!

I didn't know you when you had kids - I had Jessica but you were single or newly married. :) I liked you back then, but I think we'd REALLY get along now! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only who is stinky, dirty, (sometimes!), fat and have a messy van!