Nice Mom

The other night, during a particularly extra-crabby "Crabby Mommy evening," I was rinsing Sassy's hair in the tub when she pulled out the dreaded:  "Someday when I'M a mom, I'M gonna be NICE to MY kids."  Ouch.  It hurt for a moment but I was seriously so crabby that it hardly phased me.  All I could get out was a rather tired, "Oh yeah?"  And then I thought--Man, am I so horrible that even my five year old is planning how to be different?  My thoughts were short-lived though because she then rattled off her plan for Perfect Mommyhood:  "Yeah! I'm gonna let them eat whatever they want for dinner, and they can watch whatever they want on TV and not brush their teeth, and never do Five Minute Clean-Up."  Whew.  So in a five year old's mind, THAT'S what it means to be "nice."  I have to remind myself that she won't see everything we do for them until they're long gone--parenthood isn't a job where you're held in high esteem or appreciated.  Yet.  And honestly, it would be easier to be the "nice" mom who lets them eat cheese quesadillas every night or watch Spongebob.  But I have to remember that I'm not here to win a popularity contest.  Sometimes it IS hard to be the mean mommy.  Especially when Grandmas and aunties are SO fun.  (A special shout out to our kids' wonderful extended families.  We're SO blessed!)  But I'm not here to be fun 24/7.  I'm here to raise two little people and teach them about this thing called life.

A co-worker declared me his hero the other day for doing this parent thing.  I laughed.  A lot.  I'm hardly a hero and I'm not doing anything that other parents don't do.  But it got me thinking.  It's been said a million times:  kids don't come with instruction manuals.  I'm not sure how we've known what to do.  You just do it.  And I know I've made lots of mistakes along the way.  But I look at my girls and I think: we've done a lot of things right too.  At the end of the day, they will eat what we made for dinner (or wait until breakfast), turn the TV off when I say "Enough," brush their teeth, and clean up their rooms--for at least five minutes.  And if that makes me "Mean Mom," I'll wear the title with pride.