The Good Enough Mom

Just wondering... Have you seen the newest Newsweek? It is chalk full of articles of interest to me. I love this one about a "Slacker Mom" who refuses to join the rat race.


And how many of you can relate to this one by Judith Warner about Perfect Madness- Mothers in the Age of Anxiety? Do you agree with her conclusions? I'm not sure I do, but I thnk she is right about women my age and feelings of being overwhelmed.

Then there is an Anna Quindlin article called The Good Enough Mom. My favorite part Quindlin's article:

There's the problem with turning motherhood into martyrdom. There's no way
to do it and have a good time. If we create a never-ending spin cycle of
have-tos because we're trying to expiate senseless guilt about working or not
working, trying to keep up with the woman at school whose kid gets A's because
she writes the papers herself, the message we send our children is terrible. By
our actions we tell them that being a mom—being their mom—is a drag, powered by
fear, self-doubt and conformity, all the things we are supposed to teach them to
overcome. It just becomes a gloss on that old joke: Enough about me. What about
you? How do you make me feel about myself? The most incandescent memories of my
childhood are of making my mother laugh. My kids did the same for me. A good
time is what they remember long after toddler programs and art projects are
over. The rest is just scheduling.

OUCH! That one hit me right between the eyes! Being a Mom is hard at times, but do we make it harder than it has to be? It is also supposed to be fun. What do you think???