Can We Cut The Moms a Break?

Photo by rmolnar7 (2007) via Flickr. All rights reserved.

Day in and day out, moms everywhere are making sure the world keeps on spinning, and they do it without recognition or fanfare.

At the same time, day in and day out, the blogosphere (and the Catholic blogosphere, in particular) crams article after article down the throats of those very same mothers that leave them questioning the quality of the job they’re doing.

We see the headlines come at us at the speed of an infant’s spit-up:

“Breastfeeding is a Moral Obligation”

“Homeschooling is the Only Way”

“How I Fixed My Messy Home, and How You Should Too”

“Wait…You Don’t Use Cloth Diapers? What Kind of Animal Are You??”

Each and every blog post, article, and YouTube advice video cuts deeper and deeper into the self-efficacy of moms, and it’s enough to make this dad want to stand up and scream!

We’ve got to stop all this nonsense.

St. Francis de Sales once said, “Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.”

We fill our day reading article after article telling us we aren’t doing a good enough job, and how everyone seems to have it all figured out EXCEPT US.

“That mom has 9 kids, a husband who recently became a deacon, and still finds time to write a book, post healthy whole-food recipes, and read paragraphs from the Catechism to her children as they fall asleep all before 8:00 pm; and I can barely pull it together enough to make cold cereal for dinner…”

Let me be the first to tell you: It’s okay.

You’re okay.

The Lord hands out different gifts in different amounts to different people.

We can’t all rock a baby to sleep while blogging about the cute new outfits we crocheted for our children just hours before attending Latin Mass (and don’t forget being able to take that quick moment to post a selfie of our new cute and modest mantilla!)

While some moms may be made for homeschooling three different kids at three different ages all before morning snack, others may not be.

And that’s okay.

While some moms may be able to pull together a non-GMO, all-organic, kale smoothie that their kids will actually devour before dropping them off at Latin lessons, others may not be.

And that’s okay.

While some moms may be able to easily breastfeed their baby without much effort, others may not be.

And, even though it’s hard to accept and understand, it’s okay.

“Be what you are, and try to be that perfectly.”

If only we could embrace the words of St. Francis de Sales instead of the words of the latest mommy blogger of the moment, everything would be okay.

Copyright 2016 Tommy Tighe