What's Your Mom Guilt About?

So let's face reality here, as much as we all like to think that we are supermoms, we all more than likely have something that makes us feel a bit guilty every now and then.

Correct? 

For some it may be the fact that we work away from the home, for others it may be the fact that we feel like we don't provide a super duper nutritious diet and for others it may be that we purchase a toy at nearly every shopping trip even though we know deep down that it's quite possible we could be creating a problem.

So mama, what's your guilt about?

If you're an avid reader of my blog you know that I love to eat healthy and organic as much as possible but that I never claim to be perfect; believe me I am far from it. My child has yet to have chocolate yet she on occasion has her some pieces of fried chicken tenders and on many occasions she stuffs her face with French fries from my plate. Do I feel guilt about this? Truthfully I don't. I know I provide my child with a good diet majority of the time and I know that she's going to "live a little," so I don't usually beat myself up over it.

Disclaimer: I do however wonder if blog readers happen to see me in public and happen to catch my child gnawing on French fries...remember I never claim to be perfect. ;) 

And do I feel guilty that I haven't done a toddler learning activity in several weeks now due to being sick? Nah, not really (maybe a little); we still work on puzzles, coloring, reading and so on. I'm not running a preschool anyway, so I can cut myself some slack.

Can't we all?

So what's my guilt? Ah, something that I write about frequently. You guys... I have a serious issue with the television. Is it because I'm afraid of a couch potato kid? Nope. You see, I'm not even worried about that because I know as time goes on I'll really be able to enforce TV rules and outside play time, crafts, etc... But now, now I have a toddler who is often a handful and nearly every day I have some moments of not feeling well so yes, I rely on Mickey. We cuddle for nearly the whole time and it is pure bliss for me (because I love the cuddles).

So why the guilt? All because I'm a Google happy mother who researched infant television a long time ago and discovered a link between TV before two years of age and ADHD. It kinda makes sense, eh? They don't understand the bouncing, colorful images just yet; that's a lot of crap to digest. So yes, I beat myself up over the (maybe) one hour of TV a day that my child "watches" all for fear of causing a bigger problem in the future. Worry wart much? Yep.

We all have mama guilt and I suppose if we didn't worry and beat ourselves up a little, then maybe we'd be slacker moms. Perhaps having guilt over small things here and there means that we just simply want the best for our child but that we also realize our inability to be perfect. We are only human and we can only do so much.

I work on handling my guilt and we all should. As time goes on, we'll likely experience new worries and new guilt. Guilt for spoiling our kids, guilt for hearing them say their first potty word that we know they learned from us and worry over everything they do as a teenager. That's motherhood, I suppose.

Yea that's motherhood alright -- a ton of worry, an expectation of the best and moments of pure bliss that come in the form of snuggles and Mickey Mouse.

So Mamas, what's your guilt about?