No Judgement on Mothers

Have you ever...

Cooked dinner while letting your toddler enjoy a nice long bath in the kitchen sink while letting the older one be your 'sous chef'.

Learnt to enjoy everything and anything animated that the kids' channel shows?

Showered with your bathroom door open so that you can keep an ear on your little ones?

Cringed with terror at the premonition of a meltdown?

Stayed up nights because you could not bear to put your sick angel down, pushed through the days until your baby got over their bug and then started to look like a zombie yourself with very dark circles and droopy eyes?

Eaten your kids’ candy?

Spent the whole day prepping your kids a zillion times on good behavior so that you can enjoy dinner at this nice restaurant with your friends. Bless your stars that everything was going as you dreamed. And the minute you let your guard down, they begin to behave like they must be related to Maugli and what's worse is that the friends' kids have also joined the party!

Dropped them to school in your pajamas just in time and breathed a sigh of relief only to realize that now you will have to get out of the car in your pajamas because one of them forgot their lunch on the back seat?

Been thoroughly embarrassed by your kids innocently asking you in public that you won’t buy them some trivial junk that they like because “are we poor”?

Had people in restaurants, stores, malls, theaters, in queues for whatever it might be, roll their eyes at you for not keeping your kids under better control? And of course the kids - and more often than not, even their dad, the grown kid - are not helping your case!!

Got so hungry after a packed day that instead of cooking an adult dinner, you end up eating what you cooked for the kids with as much relish as they did?!

Hunted for your old math book in vain and then finally looked up on the internet all the questions that your child asked you and needed answers to and you could not remember your elementary school math to save your life!     

          

Finished your kids’ school projects like an elf after everyone goes to bed?

Of course it was Santa who left the presents under the tree and of course it was the tooth fairy who left the money under the pillow and you bet, that cops can put children in jail for being mean to their parents or their siblings!! There is absolutely no asparagus, broccoli, spinach or anything green under that cheesy bite! And yes I absolutely love the necklace you made out of plastic beads and the drawing on the fridge is a masterpiece (even though I do not know what you meant to draw there!).

Came back from a kids’ party, furious and fuming because one or more of the kids was behaved very badly and their parents did not think to curb their misbehavior while your child suffered. And the irony is that your child is not that bothered and is giving you reasons to calm down and let it go and well that just makes your more furious with yourself for losing it and at those people who made you lose it in the first place!

All your electronics have kids’ videos, kids’ music, kids’ games. Everywhere! Car, computer, tablet, phone, any and all radio and video players. Everywhere!

Woke up feeling like the evil witch, with every part of your body aching because someone was being a 'scaredy-cat' and squeezed themselves into your bed in the middle of the night? Whats more, they hijacked your blanket, spun around clockwise and then anticlockwise and then nearly kicked you out of your own bed!

Have you gone to the car, packed your kids in, only to find you forgot the baby’s bag and rushed back to get that and remember that you forgot your own bag and rushed back to get that, and coming back to the car you see he wore flip flops in the winter and his toes will freeze so you rush back for socks and shoes and oh yes grab water and don’t forget the keys and finally you are sitting in the car all set to go, you pull out of the driveway and damn! Where is your phone? Did you leave it upstairs in the bedroom or is it in the kitchen? You park the car again, rush to get your phone, you are so late and finally you are out on your way but alas, you have not had breakfast and you don’t have time to stop for coffee and that’s just the beginning of your day?! 

Prayed for the holidays to be over and school to reopen because if you have to answer one more time, "I am bored, what do I do now?", you just might have to punch the wall?

You never leave the house without snacks and water and half the time you are not sure if it will be useful for you or the kids!

Said these words more times than you can count: Yes I think you are pretty. Yes I think you are smart. Yes I think you look awesome. Yes I think you can do it. Yes I think you have a good choice. Yes I think you can become a scientist. Yes you are very funny. Yes you would be a great magician.

Oh the list goes on....and on and on! Sometimes we manage to make it look like

a breeze, and sometimes we look like train wrecks. But we do what it takes and we do it all. We are hassled, we are frazzled. We often take on more than we can possibly handle, and we almost always surprise ourselves with our own capability. And we are happy...Every hug from our children - no matter what their age - every smile, every kiss, every pat,every tickle that makes us squeal, every squeeze that leaves us breathless, every jump that leaves us gasping, every boo that we pretend to be scared of, makes our day the greatest one ever and every moment in it, absolutely worth it. 

Doing what we do, if we look a little Mad, we really don't care as long as our children are happy and healthy of mind, body and soul. If we are judged, we are too busy to really notice much. And if one of you is judging us, well you don't know how much fun we are having living our lives while you are wasting yours judging people. So, don't judge us, cheer us on, because what we do is not an easy feat. 

Photo Credits:
MAD Family