Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Letting go of the guilt

Have you seen this post by Lisa Jo Baker circling the web over the last few days?

It is awesome.

Go read it now.  Not ten minutes from now, but now.


It's titled "Mom guilt. I'm getting over it."

But the truth is, the idea can be applied to anyone, regardless of the hat you wear during this particular time and phase of life. Mother or not, guilt always has a way of creeping in, doesn't it not?

Guilt. . . such a nasty, venomous tactic that Satan uses as a verb, to tear us down and keep us down.

Like when I start to feel like a complete & utter failure because I don't make my sweet baby girl homemade baby food. Yep. That's right. I buy jars and jars and jars of those little glass Gerber containers. And here's the catch. I have zero desire to make it myself. Zero. Like none. And everyone once in a while I will let that guilt creep in. Because it seems that every other mommy around is tuning into their inner Martha Stewart and whipping up batches and batches of the homemade stuff, aka the "healthier stuff."

So today, there are several things that I am going to proactively just let. go.

Because at the end of the day, I know I am doing an OK job, and my baby is getting nourishment, even if it's not from 100% organic spinach and kale purchased from Whole Foods, blended in my own food processor in my own kitchen.

Because I do feed her spinach. Thanks to Gerber.

Who's with me? What area of guilt are you going to let go of today?

10 comments

  1. Great post, thanks for sharing!

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  2. Love this! I am NO martha over here lol...those wonderful pouches and puffs always always always make it into our shopping cart!

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  3. I read this article last week & it literally brought me to tears. I've decided that it all comes down to the fact that we have to pick and choose what's most important to us and focus on that. At the end of the day, I go to bed knowing I've focused on what matters (to us), tried my hardest, and when I mess up, I get to start over tomorrow.

    Who cares where the food comes from ;)!

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  4. Great article! And your take on it especially hit home since just last night I was telling Brian how overwhelmed I am about starting solids and figuring out what food to make and how much of it and suddenly it dawned on me that I COULD just buy it and make it a lot easier on all of us when we have plenty of other things on our plate right now :) And miraculously we ate jarred baby food (and formula) as babies and somehow turned out ok?!

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  5. That is such a great article & something that, sadly, I know we all deal with! You are a great & amazing momma! Love you girl!

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  6. I used to worry about that dumb baby food, too!! I never puréed anything, unless mashing a banana or avocado counts. I would catch myself sharing the ingredients with the other "better" mom and rationalizing "we'll if you consider the cost" and "really if you check the ingredients it's only green beans and water" holy cow. Really?

    There is also the tv guilt, and concern that my children's minds will turn into utter mush if they watch Daniel Tiger AND Sid the Science Kid all in one sitting or during breakfast.

    Ohh I could go on. Thoughts like "we really should have painted or created an intellectually stimulating sensory bucket for the baby to rake his fingers through instead of just coloring". I really didn think I fell prey to this until I read her post, and could SO relate!

    Thanks for posting!! You're a GREAT momma!

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  7. Thanks for sharing this, Brittnie! Love the article and love your words. Gah...I am so very good at letting heap upon heap of guilt layer over myself...over things that really don't even matter.

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  8. So true and I totally agree while I did make my own baby food it's because I enjoyed it but there is definitely moments of guilt in regards to am I teaching him enough or stimulating his brain enough and he plays iPad and watches TV a lot but that's what we have to do to get by some days and in the end were all happy and thriving nd that's what matters. It is so hard not to compare ourselves and allow the guilt to set in!

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  9. I read this yesterday and was so inspired by it! I am so guilty (haha) of Mommy Guilt right now, and this was exactly what I needed to hear at just the right time. Lily HATES going to the childcare play area at the gym. The way that our schedules are, sometimes I have to bring her with me if I want to go. I haven't gone in weeks, because I feel so guilty do something just for me, while I know she isn't having the greatest time of her life. But I do know that she gets used to it and starts playing after a few minutes, I just have that guilt about being selfish and doing my thing while she's sad in the next room. But in order to be a more effective parent and human being in general, I NEED some "me-time". Great, great article.

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  10. Great read! Thanks for posting. I'm feeling "guilty" that I waited longer than 10 min. to read the article. hahaha! I think every mom has their strengths and weaknesses, and being confident in our strengths is essential. Who cares what everyone else thinks? (working on that myself) Gerber creates a mighty fine product, and I'm 100% sure I'll be using that for Zane. :)
    P.S. Cabinets looks great... catching up on blogs this am!

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