As Mother’s Day approaches I find
myself thinking about mothers, my own mother, my friends, and myself. Recently,
I read an article about Maggie Gyllenhaal who reflected on how judgmental she
was of other mothers before she had children and I could relate.
Before having children I judged other mothers...
Before having children I judged
my mother’s parenting ever so critically. She worked during my childhood.
Still, I wondered why she couldn’t make homemade Halloween costumes, pick me up
from school on time and have dinner ready every night. It never occurred to me
that 24 hours is simply not enough time to be a good wife, stellar employee and
keep a home like Martha Stewart. Instead, I thought that our lives would be
better if only she tried harder. How hard?! As a child, I didn’t quantify such
things. I was self absorbed and merely wanted my mom to do more.
Being a working mom has made me humble...
Now that I am a working mom, I
judge no one. If I see mom with a little girl whose hair is in a million
directions I know that child was throwing a temper tantrum that morning. Instead
of failing, the mom made a judgment call and chose sanity instead of perfection.
And I am not mad at her. Perfection is WAY overrated…
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