Don't Judge a Mom by her Cover!

Libby

Fitness, eating right, bikini journey, all of that took a back burner to what happened this week.  Honestly it could not be more perfect for my blog post today and that it falls on the most important day of the year...my birthday.  Ha you know I am completely lying.  I mean mother's day.  Being a mom, I think we get caught up in a lot of hype about what being a mom really means.  I have had a big eye opener about motherhood and how much the "good mother" standard has really taken on a life of it's own in our mommy circles.  We judge based on circumstantial, book cover evidence.  Things are not always what they appear.  I read a lot of articles about how we judge ourselves based on other moms and their highlight reels but that is not what I am talking about in this blog.  I am talking about the criticism or judgement that we give other moms that do not fit our mold, what we define as good mommy behavior.

Think about it, do we judge the moms that never come to the games, the moms that never seem to have the clean or right fitting clothes, moms whose kids are not well kept, moms who who have different body art and piercing styles than the norm, moms who are outspoken, the mom who  smokes cigarettes like crazy, moms who...just don't fit the model.

Walk in their shoes...hmmmm..do we think about that when we are condemning them for their "inappropriate behavior"?  Do we think that mom who never makes it to the games is actually working two jobs to provide for her children?  What about that mom who's clothes just are not fashionable, well, her clothes are probably hand me downs.  What about the mom whose children just always look unkempt, she is probably so exhausted or possibly depressed that she can barely get up in the morning and is only getting through life for the sake of her children.  The moms that are so outrageous, well, honestly can I get a piece of that? What that freedom must taste like, to not care what other people think.  Do NOT get me wrong here, not all mamas are of the awesome variety but let's face it, they come in all shapes, sizes, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

I asked my kids tonight, if they could change anything about me what would it be?  They said, "to be less healthy, eat more candy".  That's just funny.  They also said, "less rules".  I asked another group of kids of a different mom and they said, "less candy".  Kids are never happy.  You know what both groups of kids had in common though?  They said, "my mom is awesome".  (without prompting by the way).  They also said if given the choice and they could pick any mommy who would it be, they opted to keep the one they had.  AWWWWWW.

 Where do we get this preconceived notion of what the best mommy looks or acts like?  Facebook, comparing to other moms, media, newest parenting styles.  What is my point of all this?  We are so quick to judge moms, by the way they look, what they do, how they act.  Let's get to know each other, there is probably more in common than we think.

So update on my week, not great on the weight loss efforts.  My anxiety and stress were OFF the charts.  My household took on four extra kiddos temporarily, until their mama gets a few things straightened out.  We are so happy to help.  The anxiety was tough to deal with, so I was super unhealthy and ate junk food, A LOT.  Doors were not just opened to help us with these beautiful children they were flung open.  The outreach and support in this community was just amazing.   I think when your heart is in the right place, you just do without looking back.  We are organized for the week, ready to go.  This will make it so much easier to focus on my weight loss efforts and my journey to a healthier lifestyle.  Thank goodness because I was very grumpy today, I do not think my husband could handle one more day of a non-working out, stress-eating, weight-gaining, all around not happy-go-lucky wife.  Here's to a better week.  A week of not judging myself or others.  A week of positive forward motion, growth, and HEY put down that chocolate!