Me as a Mom

Me as a mom - written July 25, 2008

i belong to a mom's group but i never go to any of the events. i don't do park dates or play dates or the other things most moms do. it's just never stuck. i take my boys to do fun things like go to the park and the beach, disney, the zoo, and fun cultural events where they get to play and do arts and crafts. but im not a play date mom. i sometimes wonder if that's bad. i like to share mom stories with my girlfriends and tell people the funny things my kids do, because they are hilarious, but i don't enjoy sitting around and chat about breast feeding or the pros and cons of attached parenting or vaccination shots. i never cared about having the latest boppy gizmo or the coolest new stroller. (and if i have another baby, im doing that wrap thing). i don't think being a parent is trendy. it's really, really hard work and sometimes i think i fail miserably on a daily basis. im the mom who's always running late, throws the lunch in the bag, lets my oldest pick out his own clothes which means he may or may not match (which i think is adorable) and his shirt may be on backwards. He's 5, it's fine, let it go. i recently cut our toy inventory by half and need to keep giving some things away. i think it's a trap of parental guilt to think love means buying stuff for your kid. i don't think you should love kids with things. you should love them with love. time. fun. and a clean house free from the clutter of damned toys all over the place. no matter how hard i try, i cant seem to, for the life of me, get them to sit down and be good in public when they are wound up, so i just go home. im still not sure what to do about that, but id like to give the finger to anyone without kids who sits and passes judgment. yes, cereal can be dinner and no, you can't have a happy meal. i think that baths are important, of course, but if we skip a day, oh well. i always seem to be the mom who forgets the birthday parties, because if you give me a paper invitation instead of emailing me the info - forget it. that's something i'm working on...