I'm one of those moms....

I never really imagined myself as a mom like I am today. But you have to take the good with the bad. It's amazing to me how small comments and eye engagements can reflects so much on your mothering successes, or as seen by others, the mothering failures. I can recall a half a dozen or so...alright, so many more times then that, but who's counting, where a trip to the grocery or target has lead others to snicker at yet another display we are making. Fortunately, I also remember the first time a stranger stopped to tell me what an incredible son I had and that she thought I was just the perfect mother for him. We were at Wild Oats, having lunch, just the two of us, a few years back. I still have the moment in my mind clear as day. I know that stranger will never know the gift she gave me, but I wish she did. So anyways, I decided that I must be one of "those moms". One of the infamous ones your grandmothers whisper about in disgust, "just what are parents doing these days!" The ones that especially draw the attention of those childless people that have all the parenting answers, and yes even the one that got pulled over in the preschool line a few months into school the first year. I still don't understand the drama around Graham wearing shorts in November. He definitely would have been cold but certainly not frostbitten or harmed. Children learn from natural consequences, right? You'll often see my kids without coats in the winter. Sure we have them. We tote them to the car where they are used to sop up the wet dirt and snow dripping from fancy boats and inappropriate frog puddle jumpers. In fact, I'm so much one of those moms that we've managed to donate a coat from both Graham and Ella to some stranger who found it wherever we last left it. So, next time you see a child dressed as Superman or Cinderella or a beach goer in the winter, step back and imagine that maybe it was for fun, maybe it was about a battle not wanting to be fought, maybe it was just what that child needed and maybe it's more than OK to be one of those moms.