Just be you.

So, I saw this post on Pinterest yesterday. It really annoyed me. I mean, who makes there child’s lunch look like a mouse?  Anyway, I was so happy to see that I wasn’t the only one who thought this kind of parenting propaganda was totally a waste of time and energy. I can just imagine my two girls opening their lunch boxes and seeing this lunch. Though they might find it cool, they probably still wouldn’t eat it. Nor would they appreciate the artfully crafted carrot whiskers. I mean seriously, did I just say carrot whiskers? Let’s face it – Parenting is NOT a competition. Some of us excel at craftiness, some of us are just happy to get through the day alive. Some of us just might have too much time on our hands, or some of us can’t find enough time in the day to read an extra book to our child. But, in the end we try as hard as we can, and love our kids with our whole heart. I’m not a crafty mom. I don’t like scrapbooking. I don’t like glue and glitter and all the other messy crap that accompanies crafts. But, occasionally I try to like it for my kid’s sake. And, it usually ends with a sticky masterpiece (that will soon be forgotten by my child, but I might tuck in a drawer as a memento), and me grumbling under my breath about how there is now frigging glitter on the dog. I’m not going to feel bad about this. It’s not my thing. As a parent we keep telling our kids to be themselves, but as parents we keep trying to out parent one another by making hard boiled egg mice and ladybug sandwiches. This is not being ourselves. This is trying to live up to the Pinterest Parent…This picture is making me feel bad about my healthy bento box packed lunch. This picture is not going to get the best of me, and it’s not going to be the judge of how I stack up as a parent. I love my kids with all my heart. Some days they drive me absolutely nutty. But, I LOVE them. And, I hope they love me for being me. The mom that always kiss them good morning and good night, even if they don’t know it. The mom that plays board games with them, the one that helps with homework (even though it’s torture for me), the one that remembers to buy the special kind of donuts because I know they like them, and the one that tries to let them hash out who they are on their own. I’m trying to let them figure a lot of this out by trial and error. For instance, what my children wear is not a battle I choose to have. Wear what you want, as long as you are appropriately dressed for the weather. This does not always turnout visually appealing, but hey…it’s their choice, and one day they might look back and say “Why did you let me out of the house looking like a lunatic?”. My kid’s probably won’t be the one with the impeccably styled hair, the perfectly pressed clothes or the spit shined shoes. But, they will be the ones who are deeply loved. I hope they will love themselves and be comfortable with who they are. I hope they will know their great capabilities, and not be afraid to take chances. They will be themselves, and they will be awesome. So, don’t we deserve that too?  Don’t we deserve to be just as awesome as the little people we are parenting?  I think we do.  And, you should too.