Let yourself off the hook!

Hey Everyone! I was reading a blog post this morning and it really made me think. I wanted to share it with you all and add to it some thoughts of my own. Here it is....take a quick look Here.....
Ok...see what I mean? Great huh?
I have been realizing that us Mama's have a TON of guilt! Especially when it comes to all the "extra" things in our lives BESIDES taking care of our kids and hubby. These extras are all the cooking, deep cleaning, volunteering at church, helping friends move, throwing play dates, making food for preggo or sick friends, etc. Those little things that we take on that seem like a good idea at the time (and they TOTALLY are) but...depending on how busy we ALREADY are...really throw a monkey wrench in the works! If we take on all of those things they could creep in and get in the way of our basic duties and that adds even more guilt then just saying, "sorry but I can't fit that into my schedule right now". Guilt is in a mother's DNA. All the well meaning people that ask about our babies lack of teeth or hair, lack of crawling or walking, lack of sleeping through the night, lack of reading skills...the list goes on. All those people...and all their well meaning advice....really only serve to make us feel bad about ourselves. I know that not ALL people who give advice make us feel that way. Some are gentle and useful in their advice and we truly appreciate it...but then there are A LOT of others that aren't.
Well I'm here to tell all you Mama's out there (including myself) that we are doing a GREAT JOB! We have healthy kids that are getting love and affection from us daily (breaks my heart to think about all the kids out there that aren't!)...do you think our kids truly care if our house is perfectly clean or if the meal that they are eating took 5 mins to prepare? They don't! They need a Mama that's not a stress case and can read books with them. They need a Mama that makes decisive decisions about their welfare and does it with love and compassion. They need a Mama that knows what's best for them (even if they don't like it) and sticks to it. Parenting isn't always easy...actually I should say its hardly EVER easy...but its SO worth it! Chaos becomes our norm....and dark circles under our eyes becomes our new look but that's ok. Its only for a season and when our kids are packing their bags to head off to college we will be longing for these days again. I hope you all can see what a treasure we are to our kids and how our consistency in their lives is ALL that matters!
I hope all you Mama's know how much I love and appreciate your comments on my blog. They TRULY make my day and make me smile. Just wanted to say thanks to all my followers. You guys totally ROCK!