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It's Okay--Guest Post

Posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 — Listed under Cool Whip Queens
Mar 24

Hello, my beloved Cool Whip junkies. Today I am very excited to introduce my good friend and fellow blogger—Peryl Manning from Parenting Ad Absurdum. Peryl is originally from Canada; has two young boys who keep her busy rescuing fire trucks from microwaves and building homemade rocket ships out of nothing but tinfoil; loves a good pomegranate margarita; and writes a hilarious and insightful blog for the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

For all those mommies out there who've bought into the Mommy Guilt Time-Share, please enjoy Peryl's post below. And when you're done, scoot on over to Peryl's blog and give her some mad comment love over there too.

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IT'S OKAY

My wise friend M said that being a mom means feeling guilty about everything you do. My equally wise friend T said "Mom guilt! Mom guilt! Where the pickle is Dad guilt???" (She didn't say pickle.) Since guilt and worry seem to naturally pervade the lives of mothers, I've come up with a list of things you can stop feeling guilty about.

It's okay if your kids sometimes bore you. Playing "put our fire gear on and get in the fire truck and put out the fire" 80,000 times a day is boring.

It's okay to let your kids wear pjs all day not because you are so open-minded about their self expression, but because you are too darn tired to change them.

It's okay to secretly like the Wiggles.

It's okay to hate the Wiggles, and tell your kids that the TV doesn't play them any more.

It's okay to want time away from your kids. Are you kidding me? Imagine spending that much time with your spouse.

It's okay if you bought your kids Bakugon toys just so you could play with them.

It's okay if your neighbor's kids eat sushi, curried carrot soup, and vegetarian goulash, and all yours will eat is bagels.

It's okay to occasionally be astounded by just how absurdly stupid your kids can be (my two-year old gets angry every time he sees a picture of himself holding his special blanket) while still secretly suspecting they are smarter than everyone else's kids.

It's okay to buy and not bake your contribution to any gathering, and to forget to point this out when you get compliments on it.

It's okay if you don't know what pre-school, kindergarten, middle school, high school, college and post-graduate institution your neighborhood is zoned for.

It's okay to tell your children elaborate white lies in order to make the day a little easier: "Yes, these are the kind of socks superheroes wear. I looked it up on the internet."

It's okay if every other kid has suddenly learned to tie their shoes (or write their name, or recite the days of the week in Latin) and it hadn't yet occurred to you to teach yours.

It's okay if you love your kids passionately until 8:15 a.m., and then they annoy the daylights out of you until dinner.

It's all okay. And so are you. Anything else you would like to declare guilt-free, please let me know. We can do it!
 

19 comments | Add your own »

Funny story about the Wiggles. In the late eighties I worked whilst backpacking in a cafe in Sydney. One of the guys who worked there was tall and good looking and said he had a band. I used to sing as I waitressed and he commented on how I had a great voice (blush) and did I want to join his band. I was backpacking so said no. He was Greg of the Wiggles. I could have been Dorothy the Dinosaur!!

Comments by Vegemitevix
Friday, June 18, 2010 at 4:50:48 AM

Its OK to let your baby spill a box of maccaroni and spread it over the kitrchen is she will finally give you the peace and quiet you need to make dinner

Comments by melissa
Saturday, April 17, 2010 at 6:47:55 PM

Thanks for the laughs. Good to know my kids aren't the only ones obsessed with Bagels!

Comments by Rachel
Monday, March 29, 2010 at 3:11:51 PM

I love this. It is ok to send your kids outside to play so you can have 5 minutes of peace. Very good.

Comments by Debbie
Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 7:44:31 PM

Yes, absolutely. Awesome.

Comments by Keely
Friday, March 26, 2010 at 11:20:25 AM

This is so witty and oh so true. Sometimes you just have to hear someone say that it is okay.

Comments by Joy (TPMG)
Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 5:21:25 PM

Is it okay that my favorite moments of the day are when my daughter wakes up and my the moment i close her bedroom door at the end of the day?

Comments by Paula
Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 9:42:27 AM

Have you been living in my brain the past couple weeks? Yes. I love my kids passionately until they begin to cry. And cry and cry and cry. And then I just want to stuff my head into the ground.

Comments by Amber
Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 7:17:51 AM

Thanks for the love, ladies, I'm glad you liked it! And thank you Naomi for being such a good host and friend. You are great!

Comments by parenting ad absurdum
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 4:20:03 PM

In France my friends and I joke with each other and call each other "mre indigne" (unworthy mother) every time we give junk food for snack or cut corners in some way.

Comments by Miss Welcome
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 12:28:35 PM

Excellent points. Yes, it really is ok. Will it matter in 20 years? No, of course not! Let yourself be human!

Comments by Beth in SF
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 9:54:21 AM

Naomi, in my continuing love for you and your writing, I have awarded you a prestigious honor :-) Go to http://dustyearthmother.blogspot.com/ and see.

Comments by dusty earth mother
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 9:11:15 AM

Maggie--THis is a big one for me. If I'm not spending every second doing something "stimulating" with my kids, I feel like a motherhood failure.

Comments by Naomi
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 7:54:39 AM

Oh man. Love this post. Thanks for this. How about - It's ok if you don't spend every waking moment one on one with your kids, being face to face, and very educational. Sometimes I feel guilty letting my daughter play with toys on the floor while I do something that I want to do. How silly.

Comments by Maggie
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 7:49:33 AM

Heather, Alexandra, Dalia, and Erin: Yes, yes, yes, and YES! It's all okay. (No worries, Alexandra. I think we've all done the same.) And anything consumable can be considered food in my house. Even play dough. Isn't Peryl great?

Comments by Naomi
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 7:44:03 AM

This is so great, I love the food one, because it is so true. I still consider milk food, because if they've just refused to eat half of what I place before them all day, there is nothing that will make them sleep through the night like a huge cup of whole milk.

Comments by erin@tinytwistcreative
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 6:50:51 AM

Love Peryl's blog. Been reading for a while now. One of my usual daily reads. She always has something interesting on tap!

Comments by Dalia (Generation X Mom)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 6:46:50 AM

Umm...don't know how "ok" this one is, vs. "sick." But, it's OK to hold your kids captive hostages in your minivan while you drive them to their friend's , just so you have someone to listen to your opinions. Kinda Ok, or too sick? Sick, I know, I know...I"m wincing as I confess it.

Comments by alexandra
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 6:06:07 AM

You chose a WONDERFUL blogger to guest post. Peryl, as usual, hilarious and so true. I love the superheroes socks one. I tell my kids ALL the time that something is true because the internet said so. What kind of excuses did our parents make up when the internet wasn't around?

Comments by Heather
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 5:11:42 AM


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