Have you Ever felt Mom Guilt?
Just remember - we as parents are doing the best that we can with the information that we have at the moment that we're in. And that's a different moment and different information than other people may have, or that we may have 10 years from now. So let's try not to be so hard on ourselves. Let’s learn from these experiences and give ourselves the grace that we cannot be “perfect” all the time. I love the social media reels that show other people’s messy houses or talk about times when they “lost it” with their kids, or times when stressed-out moms have locked themselves in the closet to get a few moments of peace and calm. It makes me realize that we are all just doing the best we can and we’re all just muddling through.
Tween angst
Yesterday we picked up a very dirty tween from a week at sleepaway camp. His proud report was that he hadn’t showered once during the week. I could see inklings of his rosy cheeks peeking out from the grime. And I’m not even going to share the tooth-brushing report, which really gave me the heebie jeebies. Despite the layers of dirt, we were very happy to have him back and to hear about his amazing week. We also were quickly reminded of the tween phase he is going through, from the mini meltdowns to the quick angry outbursts and also the fierce love that peeks through here and there. And immediately we were sprinkled with penis jokes again. Or perhaps I should say we are sprayed with a fire hose?