Moms, how many times have you “messed up” in mommy world and then later kicked yourself for reacting the way you did, making a rash decision, or deciding to not believe your child’s alibi and later finding out they were telling the truth? When any of these situations happen (or a million different variations on those themes) we beat ourselves up and we don’t let ourselves off the hook very easily, do we? I know in my life, I cannot even count the number of times I messed up as a mom.  Yes, once upon a time I sent my child to school when she told me her tummy wasn’t feeling good, but she didn’t have a fever and she “looked” okay to me. So, how horrible did I feel when the school called and said, “You need to come pick up Emily…she threw up in class”? It’s even worse when you walk into the school office and she is sitting there with eyes filled with tears, thinking to herself, “See, I told you I was sick.”  UGH! I could almost cry right now thinking about it, and it happened 15 years ago!

But, here is the point moms…we are human! We WILL make mistakes.  As a mom, you have to be okay with making a few mistakes every now and then.  We tell our children, “It’s okay, shake it off, you will do better next time” when they make mistakes.  So, we need to take our own advice and apply it to motherhood. Shake it off, say you're sorry, forgive yourself and move on!  No one is perfect.

This week, when you mess up (notice I didn’t say IF, but WHEN, because you WILL mess up), remember you are human. Realize that your mistakes make you more loveable and approachable because perfect people are hard to be around.  When you make mistakes, your children realize you are like them and I believe that endears them to you, because they can relate to you.  (Emily probably wasn’t endeared to me the day she threw up, but we do laugh about it now.)  Hang in there. We are all on a journey and it’s our first attempt at this motherhood thing, so you will learn as you go. I’ve been a mom for over 26 years and I’m still learning AND still making mistakes! Give yourself the same grace you give your kids… Love you all,