When I became a mother for the first time, my mother
gave me a book called “Motherhood is Not for Sissies.” After five years and two
kids, I definitely get the joke…that is, that there isn’t one. The only thing
that is funny is that it’s true,
motherhood is not for sissies. Motherhood is a brutal battlefield and the kids
fight dirty.
Being a mom these days is no easy job; even if it is
your only one, it is enough. With the never-ending parade of diapers, bottles,
snacks, toys, messes, and demands to contend with, being a mom is a baptism by
fire. As soon as you think you finally have this baby thing figured out and can
confidently change your child’s diaper while checking your email and updating
your Facebook status, the little darling (and by darling, I mean jerk) changes
all the rules and hurls toddlerhood right at your face. It’s a blindside and a
cheap shot to your confidence when that adorably cooing baby snatches the bowl
of pureed peas right out of your hand, chucks it on the floor…and the walls…and
the cabinetry, and shouts “NO!” At that very moment, you know that it’s game
on. The stakes are high, and your kids won’t pull any punches.
As moms in this modern age, we are already at a
disadvantage. With the advance in technology, our kids get smarter faster, and
too quickly learn how to outwit their parents. That leaves us with two choices:
give in, or get creative.
Seasoned moms all know that giving in is not an option. If you think your
kids are monsters now, just think of what little hellions they will become once
they realize that mom has been defeated. Take the hard line, and don’t flinch;
your kids will use every trick they possess to find the chink in your armor. Then
they will use their little superpowers for evil and exploit it and overthrow
your regime. As a battle hardened mom (and one who is highly in favor of
self-preservation), I adopt the same policy as that of our own government – the
United States of Mom does not negotiate with terrorists.
In order to fully embody the “no negotiating with pint-sized
terrorists” policy, each mom has to fully commit. She needs to repeat her
mantra to herself on an almost hourly basis: I am the iron mom. I rule over my kids like a major general over his
troops. I don’t take lip, sass, arguing, bargaining, or mutiny. I am the queen
of manners, rules, and discipline. I will make their lives worse if they make
mine difficult and I will do it with style, creativity, and a lot of trickery.
Because let’s face it, it’s Mom and Dad versus the kids, and a lot of the time
mom has to hold the battle lines solo.
If you are one of those moms who doesn’t mind being
overruled and overrun by your kids, or one that willingly and happily allows
her kids to consume every waking second of her very existence, then this book
is not for you. If you are the UberMom, the woman who lives for being a mom,
who eats, breathes and sleeps everything mom, then stop reading now and give
this book to that “other mom” in your play group, the one that you think needs
a lot of help because she doesn’t breastfeed her kid until at least age two, doesn’t
make her own baby food, doesn’t have an entire room in her house solely
dedicated to overly complicated kid crafts, and doesn’t even come close to meeting
your ridiculously and unobtainably high standards of Mom-dom.
For the rest of you, the moms who don’t mind a
little high fructose corn syrup or processed cheese every now and then, or the
moms who think the Disney Junior channel and the Sprout network are absolute
life and sanity savers, or the ones who don’t have a near heart attack and
break out into hives because your three year old just picked up the fork he
dropped on the kitchen floor and stuck it back in his mouth, please read on,
enjoy, and know that you are not alone.
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