The other day, I “gave up” on all the parenting standards I’ve set for myself and my family. I also gave up on the mom guilt.
I gave up on providing my children with a supper that has every food group, a perfect combination of new foods and safe foods, and all the colours of the rainbow.
I gave up on self-imposed strict screen time rules.
This isn’t every day. Don’t read into this too much. This is today. I decided to break all the “rules” and be intentional about it.
After picking up my 2 year old from daycare, I excitedly told my kids that when we get home we’re watching a movie (Encanto for the 3rd time, of course). I surprised them with a picnic on the floor of the living room with leftovers and snacks they love.
I did this out of complete mental and physical exhaustion, not because I thought it would go well or was a good idea. My husband was out of town for 3 days and my 6 year old was home sick with me the entire time.
I gave myself permission to “give up” with zero mom guilt and did exactly as I described above. I wasn’t surprised that my kids were super happy about the setup, but what did surprised me was how happy this made ME. I not only felt zero guilt because I gave myself permission and planned to just let everything go, but I also daresay I felt calm. I felt joy. I was able to enjoy time with my kids during a really stressful and overwhelming time. I was able to breathe.
I learned such a big lesson. Mainly that I will be doing movie picnics in the living room with leftovers on a regular basis (since this happened, Friday nights are picnic in the living room and movie night… it’s awesome). It’s also a go-to whenever mom or dad are lacking some mental bandwidth and need to set our whole family up for success.
Movie picnics in the living room with leftovers FTW.
