I live with the proverbial pressure of being a “Good Mom.” It’s self-inflicted pressure of course. A “Good Mom” is whatever I think I’m supposed to be in my role, then I go crazy trying to be that. Those thoughts are always there, lingering in my mind and invading my brain. Maybe it’s my semi-perfectionist nature. But whatever it is, it’s always there hanging out in my head.

“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”

– Maya Angelou

I love being a Mom immensely. But I find myself being the Mom I think my five year old self would have wanted to have. I feel like I sound like a weirdo saying that, but it’s true. I don’t think this is a bad thing, in that I feel good about giving my son experiences that I didn’t have. But I also, think I need to relax a bit as I’m adding unnecessary stress and pressure on myself.

To give you an example of my pressure making, I generally always do an activity with my son on at least one day on the weekend. Typically, we go to the beach, park, zoo or meet up with another kid for a play date. I think it’s fun to stay active even on days when I’d rather do nothing. But maybe on the rare occasion I don’t really feel like it, I shouldn’t. That would probably alleviate some of the pressure I put on myself.

Let’s face it none of us are ever going to be a perfect parent. I’m quite sure when my son, becomes an adult he will find something that I did wrong. But I hope for the most part I am able to fulfill a lot of his childhood desires, so maybe his journey wasn’t perfect but it was pretty darn close!

“I’ve learned people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

– Maya Angelou

Is “Mom pressure” crazy making or just a normal quite natural thing? I’m not really sure. I know it feels good see my son playing sports and stand on the sidelines cheering him on. It feels good to take him to the beach and look at the big smile on his face as his rides his bike along the path. Afterwards having him tell me he had the best time. It feels good to know that I’ve inspired and encouraged him to read. Now he’s a great reader at 6 years old and he enjoys reading. It feels good to see him with his puppy that he loves and enjoy having a pet in the house. He told me a heartfelt, “Thank you Mommy for the puppy.” So all these feel good things makes me continue with my feel good making, because it just really does feel good!!

Your children will see what you’re all about by what you live rather than what you say.

– Wayne Dyer

Thus, I hope one day my son reflects on his childhood and has a lot of fond memories of the things we did together. I know I certainly have a few great ones from my childhood. But I hope he has many more than I had and feels good about his start in life. I certainly am enjoying creating memories with him. I’m also learning this parenting thing as I go. No one is an expert at this. 😉 The fact is “Mom pressure” is real, but I’m secretly enjoying it. LOL

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