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Super Mommy
Before I sat down to write this, I was staring at a black screen with the words Super Mommy whipping around and changing colors. I don't know where it came from except that it was a screen saver my husband found and decided to put it up on my computer. At first I thought it was pretty funny and kind of liked seeing Super Mommy flash across my screen before I sat down to fulfill those words. Then I thought about the pressure. The pressure to be everything to everybody. The pressure to make our home a beautiful home, to make children respectful and considerate and to keep my marriage successful. Not to mention trying to pursue my own dreams and ambitions while I'm so busy being a Super Mommy! I ain't no super mommy! In fact I feel anything but.
For starters, I'm just wiped out. Pooped, tuckered, tired. If I were super I could do amazing things like fly and run! Yeah- I'd love to be able to run- really fast like I used too. In fact I'd be happy to be able to roll out of bed without an ache or a creak in my bones. Or even happier to get up off the floor without having to first get on my hands and knees and ask one my kids to give me lift. Or to be thin and beautiful like all those supermodel moms that bombard my television and magazines. I wouldn't have to watch what I eat because I would be so busy being super, I'd never gain any weight! If I were super, I would have started aerobics six weeks after I had my baby, and walk every day. That might help me get into the super category.
If I were truly super, I'd be like those other mothers who live at the kids school. Don't get me wrong, I believe every parent should be present at their kids school at some time. But there are moms who I always see, who always volunteer, who always know what's going on with every committee and group. They give, give, give. I just can't do it. Well, I do what I can, when I can. But the pressure! If I were super mommy, I'd be like one of those moms.
If I were Super Mommy, as my computer screen keeps reminding me, my kids would be perfect, or at least pretty darn near perfect! They would behave- always. In the supermarket they'd never beg me to buy them candy. At restaurants they wouldn't stand in the chairs and sing "I Love You," at the top of their lungs. They wouldn't run up and down the aisles at church and always speak when spoken too. They wouldn't do things like pick their noses or bite their finger nails in front of other people. They would always obey me and never fight. Yeah right - I'm wishing I was Super Mommy right about now!
If I were Super Mommy, hot meals would be served every night and they would be balanced meals. My husband would always come home to a meat and potatoes kind of dinner. Candles would be lit and soft music would play in the background while our dog fetched the paper and the kids played quietly. Because if I were a Super Mommy my household would be organized, cleaned and perfect. Just like June Cleaver – yep, they would call me super June!
If I were a Super Mommy, I'd meet my deadlines for work, pick the kids up at school on time, get the laundry cleaned and ironed and still make time for tea with my neighbors - the other Super Mommy's I try to be like. I wonder, are they super or just pretending to be? They seem to have it all together while I feel like fish out of water.
Being a Super Mommy is so overrated. I asked my kids if they thought I was a Super Mommy. At first they laughed and went off playing. I was crushed. For all I do and all I give, when asked a simple question I get a laugh! Then one day shortly there after, my daughter drew a picture - of me - the Super Mommy. It was a magic marker portrait with the words Supr Momiabove my head. (she's only five!) I asked her why she thought I was a Super Mommy. "Because Daddy says so." This was her first answer and after a somewhat lengthy conversation I finally heard these wonderful words, "You do everything. When I grow up I want to be a mommy just like you." I felt a super wave of confidence flow through my body. I was on my way to superdom!
My son shrugged his shoulders when I asked him- because I ask my kids every day if they still think I'm a Super Mommy - his answer - "The computer thinks so." But that retort came with the biggest bear hug I ever got from him and a cuddle- not bad from a seven year old!
Finally, I asked my husband why he put that up and how I could get rid of it. He smiled and said, "Because to us you are a Super Mommy and we want you to know it every day!"
Isn't that sweet? I think so, but the more I think about the words Super Mommy, the more I think they are redundant. After all super and mommy are really one in the same. I mean the word mommy simply says it all. You have to be super to be a mommy, even if we don't always get it right - right? You just don't need the word super in front of mommy!
Now I sit at my computer, preparing to write and I see those words Super Mommy doing somersaults in rainbow colors. I kind of like them now even if they are redundant and overrated. They have a "ring" to them. There might be piles of laundry on my bedroom floor, soup and sandwiches for dinner and a deadline not met, but to my family I am the superest mommy of all-because I am their mommy! And there is nothing overrated about that!
Copyright © Jennifer B. Reed. Jennifer is mother of two children, Eric and Emma. She also is the publisher of Wee Ones e-magazine and a full time, stay at home mom, who strives every day to be as super as she can be! Reprinted with permission.
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