Anonymous wrote:My teenagers and tween sometimes spend most of the day on the computer and watching tv. My house is always messy. I spend too much time on DCUM. I have a cocktail almost every night after work.

I think it's healthy to admit our flaws. Love this thread.

Anonymous wrote:I have an underweight toddler who is a super picky eater and was given instructions by the GI doctor to give him high calorie fatty foods.

I have been putting him in front of cartoons in the attempt to distract him to shove as much food in his mouth as he can handle.
I still don't succeed often to shove enough calories into him, so I resort to ice-cream. Every failed attempt to clear his place, an icecream container is out. At least he willingly opens his mouth for that.

I let my 2 year old watch youtube, he knows how to navigate from one cartoon or music clip to another and knows what they are. I just do the initial search, like alphabet song, or a mickey mouse clubhouse and he does the rest. I sometimes let him do this just so that I can prepare a meal in peace without having him tug at my leg or making a mess in the kitchen.


I am NOT a supermom. confessed.

Anonymous wrote:Trrrraaader joes, beyatches.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm thinking of one mom in this mom's group I had when our kids were little in particular who took everything anyone said as an indication that they were trying to hard and used it as an opportunity to tell us all about how anti-super mom she was. It got old fast. It was interesting, because she was very smart and quick-witted, but obviously completely insecure. You couldn't ask for child book suggestions or breastfeeding help or anything that indicated you were trying to be the best parent you could be without her piping up about how her kid could watch hours of TV or how she didn't waste her time with breastfeeding or how she drank when she was breastfeeding. It was like "ok - we get it - you're proud that you're not wasting your time being a supermom." I guess because of that experience, I'm reading OP's post through the lense of thinking she's probably very insecure and judgy herself.

I am more like the anti-supermom in your mom's group, and I promise it doesn't come from a place of insecurity. In my mom's group, there are a couple of overeducated SAHMs* who have transferred all of their career ambition to the competitive sport of child raising. I actually completely understand where they are coming from because I am super Type A and very driven myself. When I was on maternity leave, I read every baby-related book I could get my hands on and completely threw myself into researching every aspect of parenting within an inch of its life. Then I went back to work, and I just don't have time to fret over whether every morsel of food that passes my son's lips is organic or whether we read at least 5 books to him every single day. And he is fine! Better than fine, he's happy and healthy and developing and learning just as fast as the kids of the mothers who spend hours making homemade toys and taking their kid to a Reggio Emilia based playgroup.

So when we all get together and one of the supermoms is angsting over how she's so terrible because her daughter had a bite of her Chipotle rice bowl yesterday, yes, I roll my eyes, and yes, I will probably offer that my son had his own Chipotle rice bowl twice last week. I promise it's not because I'm insecure. It's because I have developed some perspective on what things actually matter when it comes to raising a happy, healthy child.

*This is not meant as a generalization that all SAHMs are like the ones in my mom's group or that all the working moms are like me. To the contrary, some of the coolest, most laidback moms I know are SAHMs, and some of the worst parenting micromanagers are WOHMs.

Anonymous wrote:
I'm thinking of one mom in this mom's group I had when our kids were little in particular who took everything anyone said as an indication that they were trying to hard and used it as an opportunity to tell us all about how anti-super mom she was. It got old fast. It was interesting, because she was very smart and quick-witted, but obviously completely insecure. You couldn't ask for child book suggestions or breastfeeding help or anything that indicated you were trying to be the best parent you could be without her piping up about how her kid could watch hours of TV or how she didn't waste her time with breastfeeding or how she drank when she was breastfeeding. It was like "ok - we get it - you're proud that you're not wasting your time being a supermom." I guess because of that experience, I'm reading OP's post through the lense of thinking she's probably very insecure and judgy herself.