Motherhood

​         Before I had kids, I didn’t worry about food.  If there was none in the apartment, fine.  If I wanted only a baked potato for dinner, fine.  If I didn’t eat, who cares?  That all changed once I had kids!  For some reason, kids need to eat, on a daily basis.  I know what you’re thinking, aren’t you suppose to feed them?  Well, yeah!  But sometimes it’s just tiring. 
        When my kids were babies and toddlers, I wanted everything they ate to be as healthy as possible.  So I went out and I bought fresh foods and cooked.  I mean, I actually cooked!  I would get up and make them a hot breakfast, make a healthy lunch, drop them off to school, go to work, come home, and made sure that they had a homemade dinner.  I thought I was Martha Stewart!  I would try new recipes, make different meals from scratch, all the things that I imagined a perfect mother to do.  I just couldn’t imagine giving my kids a precook meal with all those additives and preservatives in it.  I mean, really?  What kind of mother does that?
         Well, let me answer that question for you, me!  In the beginning, I wanted the best for them.  Now don’t get me wrong, I still want the best for them and will do everything I can to make sure that they have the best, but all that cooking, nah.  I work all day and sometimes I just want to come home and crash!  Can you imagine, slaving over a hot stove in the summertime, preparing what you think is a wonderful, nutritious meal, only to hear, “I don’t like it”.  You don’t know how many times I heard that phrase.  If it’s not “I don’t like it”, it’s, “I don’t want it”, or “Can I have … (insert any food that you haven’t cooked that day here – I used to tell my kids on a regular basis that this was not a restaurant, you get what I cooked). 
           It’s tiring trying to come up with healthy, tasty meals that the kids would want.  After a while, you walk past the freezer section of the grocery store and you start thinking to yourself, “If I get this PF Chang General Tso Chicken, all I have to do is put it in the frying pan.  It’s already seasoned.  Oooooh!  Those beef patties really look good.  That box will last a few days.”  Next thing you know, your shopping cart is filled with premade dinners and Lego waffles.  And you tell yourself, “Well, at least I got fruit.  That’s healthy.”
             At first, you feel guilty.  After all, you envisioned yourself to be Mother Earth.  But then you realize that you can cook a meal under thirty minutes the kids will actually eat it … you quickly get over it!  Now, don’t get me wrong, I still cook my kids’ homemade meals, but it feels good to be able to just pop a frozen pizza in the oven, sit down, and call it a night.  As long as the kids aren’t complaining, it’s all good with me!
         Motherhood will not always be what you imagined it to be.  So don’t beat yourself up if you have to change your image of yourself as a mother.  After all, change can be good.  What’s important is that you love your kids and spend quality time with them.
               So, until next time, consider yourself warned!