I’m not cured yet, but I’m making greats strides in my recovery… by sheer force.
Confession #1: I’m a reformed perfectionist.
It’s not that I think I’m perfect; or near it, for that matter. Regardless, I still strive to do things well, in all areas. I’m a people-pleaser. I care about what others think of me, maybe too much. I want to do my job well- any job that I have.
It was easy, way back when. Top grades. Good college. Met a man that swept me off my feet, loved me, & married me. Landed my first excellent teaching job using my degree. Made lots of money. Kept our first adorable, starter apartment immaculately clean, and cooked only the freshest, most intricate meals for my hard-working new husband. We enjoyed our dual gym memberships, indulged in late-night dinners out…
It was PERFECT.
Then we had kids.
Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s not their fault. Having each of my babies has truly been, hands down, the most spectacular moments of my life.
Here’s the conundrum: it’s impossible to try & be perfect when you’re sharing your life with six small people.
Oh, I tried. I tried to make time for my friends. I tried to be the perfect wife. I tried to do it all: to keep every stitch of laundry clean and folded. I tried to keep my floors immaculate, the sink empty, the school notes promptly signed, the windows smudge-free, the library books returned on time, etc.
And the more perfect I strove to be, the more I resented the work required as the result of people that kept “messing the plan up”. You know. The other people that lived with me. The people that: left crumbs everywhere. Spilled drinks,
all.the.time.
The people that threw clean laundry back in the basket instead of putting it away. The ones that left toys lying exactly where they’d last been played with, only to dash off in search of new toys. The ones who left dirty dishes on the table. The counters. In the sink. NEAR the dishwasher, but never in it. The husband who left his laundry on TOP of the hamper instead of IN it.
The people that whined instead of asking cheerfully. The people that used rude words instead of being kind to a sibling. The people that seemed to require more of me than was left inside. Or the people who didn’t seem to notice how hard I worked for them, how much it took from me, day after day.
I was tired. I was grumpy.
all.the.time.
And it wasn’t just the house. It was the internal expectations I had of my kids’ performances in school as well. Parent-teacher conferences that less than stellar reports crushed me. Some of my kids take their schoolwork very seriously; others could care less.
And it wasn’t about competing with other moms. Nope, just my own internal competition, within myself. Am I good enough? Am I doing this right? Am I being the best mom that my kids deserve? Is my husband proud of me? Is my house clean enough? Are my kids clean enough? Are my kids happy/well-adjusted/well-balanced/clean/in enough activities/learning the right character qualities?? Do people look at me, with six kids, and think, “She’s in over her head.”??
But thankfully, I caught on to MY problem before screwing up my kids (well, in this respect, anyway. I’m sure there are countless other ways The Captain and I are inflicting psychological damage on them. The serious stuff. Like not buying them iPhones. Or making them share a room with a sibling. The horror!).
I’ve always measured my worth & value by how I’m performing. Am I a good daughter? A caring and considerate wife? A kind sister? Decent friend?
And as a teacher? It was so easy to receive validation, literally, in the form of evaluations. Concrete proof that you’re doing it right.
But as a MOM…. especially a Stay At Home Mom… there’s no grading system. There’s no report card to indicate how well you’re doing. Or, more importantly, no clear-cut evaluation system to affirm that yes, you’re doing a good job.
Especially on those days where it crashes and burns. You know; the days when they’re late to school because you can’t find a shoe, and you find their homework on the table after they’ve been dropped off.
The days when the cat food bowl is dumped on the floor, & you crunch through the grit because the broom is missing.
The days that you find toddler graffiti, in marker, on a freshly cleaned wall.
The days when dinner is late, or when dinner is hot dogs, AGAIN, because you just don’t have it in you.
The days when you scream in total overreaction not because the child deserved it, but because you’re just so tired.
The days where you weep because the house is a total mess, and you’re convinced any mom would do it better than YOU.
So not perfect. But so what? Life is messy. And it’s even messier with kids. It took me a long time -too long, probably- to realize that there’s no such thing as perfection. And attempting to reach it, particularly with kids, is, in the words of the great Phyllis Diller, “like shoveling snow while it’s still snowing.”
POINTLESS.
(Note: The above quote actually refers to the idea of cleaning while your children are still growing, & how pointless it is. Fitting, no??)
I’m slow to catch on, but I’m getting it. I sweep less, and I hug more. I scrub less and I laugh more. I’ve also gotten the kids into the work, which is a HUGE help, as I’ve discussed back in this post. I worry more about what my kids think than what other moms think. I guide, and encourage, but I let each of my kids grow to become who he or she is meant to be, not who I think he or she is supposed to be.
My kids won’t remember if the towels were folded just so or the crumbs were always swept, but they will remember how I loved them & made them feel. Lesson learned.
