This is a picture that one of my friends recently posted on facebook. When I saw it, I knew it should belong to me.Why? Because it is ok to be okay! Why do Mothers beat themselves up so much about motherhood? Well, there are a lot of answers to that question. Lets start with society. It picks at us, pulls us apart, measures our worth by how well we can make a peanut butter sandwich look like the latest Disney character so our kids will eat it. Society screams at us to not feed them gluten, or dairy, or anything with chemicals in it. Yet, society pushes us to run through the drive through to feed them chemically processed food because we are so busy running them to dance, cheer, softball, girl scouts, church camp, and my personal fave, manners club. So what is a mamma to do?? Here is the first step...stop trying to be the best mom in the world. That is a title that is incapable of ever being filled ladies.

Here is what you need to do..LOWER your expectations. Strive to be OKAY. Quit letting those other moms who are living with the idea that to be perfect means to have it all together all of the time, run you down. SO WHAT if your kiddos don't have the bento lunch box that require you to carve all of their food into little animals and shapes and still have time to put your clean underwear on in the mornings. STOP!! I am just going to keep going on and on with ways to stop being perfect and start being okay. Here is why.....because when you let go of trying to give your kid the world and being the BEST PARENT EVER, something magical happens.....you form a better relationship with your kid, and you actually get to know them for who they are, not who you wish they were.

Ok all you momarazzi, I am talking to you. It is ok to take pictures of our kids. However, when you miss out on the event you are there to enjoy watching, because you've taken 439 photos of every move your bambino made in the school play, here is what happens: you do not watch the whole experience. You do not pay attention because you have a camera up your eyeballs. Also, it is distracting to the OKAY parents that came there to watch the play, not film a documentary on it. Now I cant see my kid who has a 3 second speaking part in the whole thing, because you are walking around snapping pictures like you work for TMZ or something, STOP!! Just sit your mom jeans down in a chair and WATCH the entire show, and enjoy the moment you are in now, and take a cute photo after the play with little Suzie and her cast members.

Harvard moms, you're up. Don't get me wrong, getting good grades are important and crucial to succeeding down the road. Don't do your kids homework for them. My kids are so lucky, I don't understand math or science past 3rd grade level, so not only am I not able to do it for them, I cant even help them. I honestly have written many letters to teachers telling them to please not punish my kids because they needed help and I could not help them because I am not smart enough to remember an obtuse triangle. Set a time for homework, make them do it, and let the teachers grade it. and if they are doing homework at 11pm at night, you may want to consider cutting some of the extra curricular activities out. I am guilty of this one! You have their life so jam packed full of stuff that they cant do homework. Treat education like a sport. Make time for it, practice, and make it a priority so when the big day comes, the report card reflects the work. But do not shame your child for struggling. I have a kid who if she maintained a C average, I was ecstatic!! That was just her level of learning, and caring. I accepted her for that and never shamed her as long as she TRIED. My other one, she is all A's, and I do expect a little more from her because her abilities are different than her sister. As long as she tries, it is an A in moms grade book.

I am an okay mom. I am perfectly ok with that. I don't always get my kids to school on time. Or the doctors office. I forgot to get a physical before school started this year. I forget to load money on my kiddos lunch account and they come home starving because they didn't eat lunch. Yes, I have given my kids tylenol a time or two when they were young to help them sleep. I forgot to order a yearbook one year. I am not the dugout mom who keeps the scorebook and wears the color coordinated hair bows, but you bet your ass I am there, watching, cheering. I don't know my kids grades right now if you asked me....I figure if they get bad, the teacher will call me, and she wont be able to play sports. My kids are not perfect, and sometimes they will do things that are not right. But do me a favor, come to me first, instead of running your mouth all over town about it to others. I will set them straight for things they do wrong. I don't make homemade pie crust. I don't fold my kids laundry, I put it in a basket and deliver it to their room. I don't own an iron. I forget to feed my dog sometimes when I am in a hurry. The baby books I created when they were babies have not been touched since age 3. I don't like being a chaperone on the bus or field trips....I am not good at looking after my own, why would you want me looking after yours?? my kids see me fail. My kids see me cry. They sometimes have to remind me of things we have to do. I don't like buying them things with their names sewn on them. I am horrible at pushing them to sell pto stuff, so I buy it all. I am not perfect, and I do not want to be. I have been at school functions and could literally feel the other moms judging me for the way I raise my kids and live my life. It is funny how the ones to judge are often the ones with the most skeletons in their closets. Sometimes my dishes pile up because I wont do them, and neither will they. So it becomes a stand off until there are no clean dished in the house.
Sometimes, I cant make it to my kids stuff. Sometimes, I just don't want to go, but I do. I am the worlds most okayest mom. And I am proud to hold that title.

Here is what happens when you are okay. You enjoy the moment you are in. You may not have a picture of every stinking thing they did, but you have the experience of enjoying your kids in that. I will never forget pop flys caught by my girls, or a base stolen, even though I didn't take a pic of it. There are some things in life to just enjoy, experience. I have some of the best conversations with my kids in the car, or at the Mexican restaurant because I was too tired to cook for them.  I am okay. And you can be okay to. Lets start a new movement......stop giving our kids the world, and start being in their world. put your expectations in your new Coach purse, and start paying attention to what is really important.

Now, I am going to go wake my kiddo up and start this day!!!