What’s a “perfect mom”?

Let me be clear, I am in no way a perfect mom. I had someone make that comment to me the other day and it has bothered me since. I’m not sure exactly what a perfect mom even is. I love my kids, but they drive me nuts. I love spending time with them, but I also long for the days I wasn’t a nervous wreck about every single thing. My house is a mess about 50% of the time. 50% of my house is almost in constant chaos. Don’t even go near our bedroom–my husband even knows, if there’s company, our door is to be locked! It’s essentially a storage closet, the laundry zone, my husband’s office when he works from home… it’s not really our bedroom–it’s just the room my husband & I sleep in.

I let my kids play on tablets… I’m afraid of their reactions when told no… My kids are constantly getting hurt… We end up in immediate care about every other month for head wounds, rubber bands being stuck up noses… There’s always something. A “perfect mom” probably prevents things like those mentioned above from even happening.

Making mistakes goes hand in hand with being a parent. What’s the old saying? Our kids raise us as much as we raise them? It’s a constant learning environment. I love being a mom. I love my kids completely–they’re my everything. But, sometimes, I feel like I need to get away. I’m always jealous when my husband has business trips. I’ve been a mom now for 6 years & I have never spent more than one night away from my kids (outside of hospital stays and that doesn’t count). My husband & I have had only 2 separate nights where both of our kids were staying at my parents. I long for vacations… for outings where someone’s not saying “Can we go now?” “This isn’t fun!”. Perfect moms probably don’t think those things.

Do these “perfect moms” even exist? Maybe, being a perfect mom just means that we’re willing to do anything for our kids. Love them unconditionally. I can do that & I’m proud to say I do. But, I’m not perfect. And I’m not even sure I’d want to be labeled as that–when something is perfect, that’s it–there’s no more room to grow. I’m a good mom & I’m a work in progress.

–Lissa

Advertisement