Day 162 The Perfect Mom Project

Yesterday was a banner day in my mothering history. If you recall, Aly had given me a hard time last week about the groceries and what we have in the house to eat. At the time I was quite angry and told her that she was going to make the grocery list and do the shopping so she could see how “easy” it is. Well, yesterday was the big day.


As the time came closer to prepare the list and do the shopping, I realized that Aly would not be able to actually do the shopping because of a busy week at school, so I told her she had to at least make the list. So I handed her the grocery store advertisement and my grocery list printed from the computer and said “Here you go”. It took her a while to get into the swing of it. She was not sure at first what to have for dinners, or what snacks to put on the list. At one point I showed her some items that were on sale and explained to her that I try to buy sale items whenever possible. We discussed ideas she had for meals and what she would need to put on the list, and a couple of times she had to check out the pantry downstairs and the cupboards in the kitchen to see if we had everything for those recipes. That in its self was a good lesson for her.

I think just going over the advertisement and making the list was an eye opener for her. As she finished up her list making, she looked at me and said “Mom, I am sorry I said that the other day.” And I looked at her and said, “I accept”. I know that we are not done with this lesson. I actually think having Aly and Avery make the list again next week will be a good lesson for both of them. Not only will they then be invested in what food is coming into the house, they will have a greater understanding about what kind of planning it takes. I think it is important for them to walk a little in my shoes. Sometimes I think they believe that all I do is spend the day plotting and scheming on how to make them miserable.

So, I hold my head up high today thinking one of my crazy mothering moments actually worked. If this is how it feels to be successful at parenting, I could get addicted to it. Maybe the pursuit of perfect parenting is an even better idea then I first realized. This plan of mine might be working. I might actually be headed towards mothering perfection! Bah, never mind, I snapped out of it, its crazy to think I can turn this train around now, but I am not done trying, maybe a couple more of the learning moments and I will have it all figured out.