22 Minutes

On the Today Show a few days back, two women were interviewed about their new book coming out about motherhood. They talked about interviewing 100's of moms and some of the things that were consistent among them. They said that when asked, "How is motherhood going for you?", all of the moms had good things to say - for 22 minutes. 22 minutes of how neat their kids are, how wonderful their husband is, how much they love their community and friends and all the great things their super sweet and wonderful kids can do. They said it was actually a little bizarre that, in so many interviews, after 22 minutes, many women broke into tears and shared that they were lonely at home, that they weren't organized enough or strong enough to keep kids in a routine or to have consequences for misbehavior. Basically they were afraid that they weren't good enough. Apparently this fear is pretty universal and takes about 22 minutes to tap into. I would imagine I am no exception and thought about this after re-reading our last post. Everything in that post is true, and Casey is a great kid, but I could also do a whole post about the stuff I am not getting done, all the laundry that's piling up, or how some days since my semester has ended have felt really long. So, is it about what we focus on, or is it a conscious attempt to sound good so everyone thinks we are uber-mom? The authors were not sure either, but they did feel after all the interviews and their own experiences as moms that there really is a pressure on parents to have the perfect kids and the perfect life. Moms tend to internalize this and become their own worst critic. I am going to continue to focus on the positive, but also be honest about the struggles of parenting. I am going to start right now. I posted the delightful picture of Casey at 11 months yesterday. This took 3 different sittings to get and that was one of a few pictures he was able to sit still for (note the book as a trick prop) Here is what the other pictures look like ...

It feels good to share :)