SHELLEY HEAPHY
What a refreshing thing to hear or read, “You’re enough.” This needs to be said to parents around you more often. Right now, life is hard for everyone. Stress is coming at you everywhere you turn. We need to be reminded that we are doing everything we can for our little people.
I saw a wonderful post online about how . . .
mothers are thinking “did I do enough, am I good enough?” All the while their child is sitting there thinking, “I adore her, she is my world.” This hit home for me, in many ways.
How many of us finish off our days and think back over how things played out with our children worrying that maybe I shouldn’t have said this, or I should’ve had more patience with him when he did that? Over and over we second guess ourselves. Do we ever give ourselves the credit to think we’ve done enough?
I’ve written about this topic before but I feel it bears repeating. Mothers everywhere (and probably fathers also) doubt their abilities, their decisions, their actions, their words and their every move, especially when it comes to raising their children. Why? Why do we do this to each other and ourselves? Like the caption showed in the picture I saw, we are their world. We have to continue to remind ourselves of that.
Reminders
1. You don’t have to kill yourself trying to do every single thing you see or think you should do and they’ll still love you — thanks social media for the extra pressure.
2. You don’t have to buy them every new toy of the season and they’ll still love you.
3. You don’t have to manage every moment of their time and they’ll still love you.
4. You can lose your patience and they’ll still love you.
5. You can go out of the house alone and they’ll still love you.
6. You can order in one night and they’ll still love you.
7. You can let them be bored and they’ll still love you.
8. You can make a mistake and they’ll still love you.
9. You can withhold treats and they’ll still love you.
10. You can give them a sibling and they’ll still love you.
11. You can leave them at daycare and they’ll still love you.
12. You can forget crazy hair day and they’ll still love you.
13. You can go to work and they’ll still love you.
14. You can say no and they’ll still love you.
What this list serves as is a reminder that we are not perfect. No one is, but we are enough. We are who they need when they’re sad, happy, mad, confused, excited or grumpy. We have good days, we have bad days, we are normal just like them. The next time you feel like you’re not enough, remember these words or at the very least, remember that while you’re worrying about not being enough, they’re thinking about how you are the most important person in their life. Give a shout out to another mom friend, remind her that she’s enough. We’ve got this.
