There's no such thing as perfect

Ever since becoming a mom close to 8 years ago, no, make that close to 9 years ago-pregnancy counts in my book, I've been amazed and amused at the stark contrast between the images portrayed of motherhood and how the role plays out in 'real life.'  I do love being a mom and I have my moments when I feel that I'm living out the scenes portayed in magazine ads of moms calmly connecting with their kids.  On the other hand though, I have come to realize the danger in trying to live up to unrealistic expectations of what my role entails. Being the best at, well, everything.   The words I recently read in a thought provoking book (The Price of Privilege by Madeline Ladine Ph. D.) succintly captured my collective thoughts on this matter.  "There is no perfect child, vacation, home, marraige, or friendship.  This is real life and we would do well to cast the notion of perfection out of our lives and get on with the real business of living-with strengths and weaknesses, abilities and deficits, accomplishments and failures.  This is how we help our children learn the art of living-by encouraging them, to take pleasure from their efforts and successes and to tolerate their limitations."  I believe we'd all do well to heed this same admonishment.     

Emily Rempe is the co-founder of ProductiveParenting.com, a website that provides free educational activities tailored to your baby or young child's developmental stage. She is also the 2010 Mom Congress delegate from Ohio.