I Was a Good Mom Five Minutes Ago

good mom As my children have gotten old enough to have little personalities and opinions (4 & 3), I find myself lacking patience more and more in situations where I feel out of control. You know, when your kids push you to the edge. If I’m not careful, I can go from calm and conquering the day to an extremely heated, mental meltdown in a matter of minutes.

Do you ever see somebody out in public and think “man, I would never do that / say that / act that way with my own kids?”

It’s hard to be a parent in general, let alone in front of anyone else these days. But I think those glimpses into someone else’s life, when it appears a little rough, are similar to super successful moments in another’s. Not everyone gets to see the process and all the sacrifices that lead up to a successful moment. And we talk about that a lot in society, and we say “there is such a journey involved” and “that doesn’t happen overnight … ,” things like that. I think the same can be said about those moments where we catch a quick look of someone else momming out in the wild. That mom may be in a seemingly difficult situation at this very moment, which is not really for us to judge anyway; however, she could have been making very different decisions five minutes ago. Maybe those decisions five minutes ago were great decisions and maybe things just got out of hand, or she was pushed to her limit. There are so many factors that can affect one reaction in one moment, and for all we know she’s a great mom (in fact, I’m sure she is)! I’ve been in that situation, in public, where I don’t recognize myself in that very moment with the way that I’m acting or how I’m saying something; however, I was a great mom five minutes ago and you just didn’t see that part.

Five minutes ago, I felt composed. And because I was a good mom five minutes ago, I know that I can be a good one again – in another five minutes and again tomorrow. 

We don’t usually get to see someone else’s combined minutes in a day or even an hour, just a selective few.  I love Lauren Daigle’s song You Say; it asks “Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low?” I believe I am, which means I’m more than just those little moments where I’m not at my best (even with my kids) and even those high, mountain top moments. Other people may or may not see one or both of those. And if I can remember that about myself, I can view others as more than any impulsive perception I may have of them.
Jenny
Jenny is originally from Kenner, LA, and considers herself a New Orleans girl at heart. She moved to Pineville in 2004 to attend college where she met her funny and always entertaining husband Brandon. Together they relocated to Baton Rouge almost 10 years ago and married in 2008. They added their joyful daughter Salem to the crew in April 2014, blue-eyed son Declan in July 2015, and baby Liesel in 2019 and now live in Zachary. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication/Journalism from LSU and has previously done some freelance writing. She now works full-time for the State of Louisiana. She and her family enjoy spending time together, making each other laugh and being a part of their church community. She loves wandering around Target, drinking coffee, watching HGTV, having people over and making any kind of craft.

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