Mom Guilt: Time to Marie Kondo

To me, spring feels like a new beginning.

The city comes alive again as people start spending more time outside again. The sun shines more. Flowers are in bloom. 

Some people are spring cleaning, unless you’ve been Marie Kondo-ing it all winter. (Have you been bingeing on “Tidying Up” on Netflix? I haven’t yet, but I might give it a try because of all the hype!) 

As I think about all this newness and cleaning, I think about what it means to me as a MOM. One thing I would love to purge from my life during my own spring cleaning is the MOM GUILT. (Disclaimer: I’m a mom and many of the people who read this blog are also moms. I’m quite sure many Dads feel this guilt too, but I can’t speak for them. So, please feel free to substitute “Mom” for “Dad” or whatever that noun needs to be for you at this point in time!😉)

Lately, mom guilt has been an underlying theme in many conversations with other women in my life. Because I love reading and hearing about different perspectives on life, living, and parenting, I hit up Google with a “Mom Guilt” search. And of course, a favorite blog of mine, Scary Mommy, had a post that I just had to share with you. It’s a recommended read for everyone who have young people in their lives.

Here is The Cliff Notes Version

Let go of perfection. (Yeah, right. I know that’s a healthy mindset for myself and for my kids to learn. But it can be pretty tough to follow through!)

Embrace the fact that you care A LOT about your kids. Yes. Of course you do. That’s what makes the entire feeling of mom guilt so persistent and so hard to shake!

Being real is far more beautiful than pretty.

For these two reasons, I’m pretty much out of luck at shaking the mom guilt. Maybe you are thinking the same thing right now?

Therefore, I’m going to do my best to stop, breathe, and reflect on the beauty within the chaos that is life with kids. I’m going to give myself some grace knowing that every mom, every parent, is just doing their best with the tools they have. I know that being real is far more beautiful than pretty. But sharing the reality can be scary. I’m going to try.

In fact, I’ve begun posting more photos of my own chaotic and very imperfect life with kids. Keep an eye on my Instagram feed to see how it’s going!

I’d love to help document just how beautiful that love is you have for your kids. I promise you it’ll help change your perspective of parenting when your days might feel gloomy and imperfect.