Growing up, I wanted four children. Two boys, one girl, then another boy. I distinctly remember the day I changed my mind. I was in college and working as a cashier at Lowe’s. A woman with four young kids came through my line. The baby was crying. The other three were either whining or running around causing chaos. That mom didn’t have enough hands. The thoughts running through my head were, “Why can’t this woman control her kids? When I’m a mom, my kids will NOT act this way in public!”
Fast-forward a few (okay, more than a few) years to today. I’m in Target begging my fifteen month old to sit down in the front of the cart. She’s screaming, trying to grab things off the shelves, and attempting to step out of the lap belt. People are staring. I am that mom, but I don’t even have enough hands for one child! Let’s just say that I have stopped judging other moms for having unruly children in public.
We live in a Pinterest world filled with perfect homes, perfect parties, and perfect mothers with perfectly behaved children. But, beyond those pictures are mothers like the one I saw that day. Mothers like me. I’ve learned that being a mom means not always being able to plan how I’ll react to every situation. I have to be flexible and roll with the punches. Sometimes, I have to navigate a tantrum at Target. I do the best I can. And now when I see a mom struggling to keep it together at Lowe’s, I give her an understanding smile.
A mom friend of mine calls the looks “judgy eyes”