Please don’t hate me for what I’m about to say…I was one of those people who was so ANNOYED by babies and kids crying in public! I’d like to think that it’s because my motherly instincts are so refined that the sound of a child in distress was equally distressing to myself, but it’s most likely because I was young and naive! I never babysat growing up. I’m the youngest in my family. If there was a kid having a temper tantrum, that kid was me!
I just didn’t know! No one truly knows what motherhood is like until they become a mother, but chances are you imagined what it would be like beforehand, what you would and wouldn’t do as a mother. Well, I did too. I made promises lied to myself about how I would be a mom. Here are my top five lies I told myself about motherhood:
- My kids will never have temper tantrums in public! HA! Worst one to date: My daughter, who stops breathing and PASSES OUT when she cries too hard, was having a full blown tantrum. I put her in the main part of the cart because she lost the privilege to walk. And she lost it, as in she cried so hard she stopped breathing and stood up to grab me because she was panicking and passed out, which caused her to fall out of the cart, where I caught her. The cherry on the cake was an elderly woman who walked up and said to my daughter, “You should listen to your Mommy.” I flashed a quick, fake smile attempting to hide the I-know-you-think-you’re-helping-but-you’re-not-helping expression on my face.
- I’m going to keep my house clean. Actually, the lie was worse than that. I refused to have toys out. I wanted it so clean that people wouldn’t be able to tell we had kids! WHY?! We have kids!
- I won’t be a push over. You know when your kid is begging or crying for something that they shouldn’t have? “But I want candy!!” I will gladly give you candy just so I can have two minutes of quiet while you’re chewing!
- My kids will ALWAYS be polite! My three-year old daughter went to her first sleepover a couple weeks ago at my sister’s house. Her uncle scolded her through the monitor for bossing her younger cousin around when they were both supposed to be asleep. Through the monitor they heard back, “This is the WORST sleepover EVER!” Cue face-palm.
- I will maintain excellent hygiene! While shopping at a store with my family, I was in an aisle with another woman. I noticed a very stinky feet smell, so I held my breath, quickly grabbed what I needed and left. We paid, hopped into the car, and I could STILL smell it! I turned to my husband horrified and said, “It’s me! It’s MY stinky feet!!” He says, “Well, when was the last time you showered?” To which I replied, “WHAT IS THIS?! AN INTERROGATION?!?!”
We all enter motherhood with the greatest expectations and the highest of hopes! I certainly did! But once the dust (and reality) settles, we may realize motherhood isn’t quite what we told ourselves it would be, and yet the truth is somehow so much better, more fulfilling and wonderful than we could have ever dreamed!
