There are No Supermoms

I’m so excited that Deana asked me to guest blog here at The Frugal Homeschooling Mom. As a mom of two grown children I can honestly say that I admire anyone who stays home and homeschools. It isn’t something that I did and although some parents did homeschool “back in the day” it is much more common now than it was when my children were in school. While I’m not familiar with homeschooling I am familiar with the sacrifices it takes to keep a family on the straight and narrow.

We did it all. AWANA, children’s choirs at church, baseball, (Summer, Fall and traveling) basketball, (school, rec league, traveling, Middle School, High School, College and Overseas) Football, Track, Gymnastics, Book Publishing, piano and voice. My husband was a Deacon and Sunday School teacher, served as a Trustee and on the Missions Committee. We worked with the Teens and Youth Choirs, went on Missions trips. I sang in the Choir, the Praise Team, worked with the Special Needs Ministry, taught Sunday School, worked in the Nursery, and played keyboard in the Orchestra.

While I’m sure we never perfected any of these, we sure did try. One might even say that we burned the candle at both ends. We did all of this while we both worked. My husband worked full time and most of those weeks overtime and occasionally two jobs. I worked around 32 hours a week. There were many nights in those early years when we would get home, eat dinner and fall into bed and get right back up the next morning and start it all over again.

Now that I’m on the other side of “all that” I would say to you to try and balance without trying to be Supermom. There are no Supermoms. Pinterest, blogs and sometimes our friends make it look like there are, but no one can do it all. Don’t put too many expectations on yourself. Keep pressing on. You’re doing great. Your children need YOU.

I remember once when my son was very sick and his fever was very high. He only wanted me to hold him. The laundry was piled high. The dishes were dirty in the sink. I was on the phone with my mom and I told her that I couldn’t get anything done. She said to me, “Hold him now, the laundry and dirty dishes will wait. He will not always want you to hold him.” It wasn’t long after that conversation that I saw a plaque at a craft fair and it said:

“Cleaning and scrubbing can wait ‘til tomorrow
For babies grow up we’ve learned to our sorrow.
So hush down cobwebs and dust go to sleep,
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.”

I bought that plaque that day and have kept it to this day and hope to pass it on to my children as they start their families. So when you have a never ending “to do list” and a child that just needs “you” give yourself a break. Just be mom.

One thing that helped me focus our family was having a family verse. Our verse is Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me and I will show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.” We called this “God’s telephone number.” This verse showed up in lunch bags, written in the bill of baseball caps, tucked in basketball shoes, track shoes, on the dashboard of cars, etc. Post it on your fridge or on your family chalkboard. Recite it to each other every day. Mom, stay the course. Being a mother is, in my opinion, one of the highest callings in the land. Wake with renewed strength each day. Remember that you get fresh do-overs every day and that His mercies are new every morning.

Felicia (Fifi), of Average Day on Everidge, is married to James, the first and only man she ever fell in love with, and they have two children, Kristen and Bradley. Bradley is married to their daughter-in-love, Kayla. Felicia began blogging two years ago at the urging of her husband and children. She loves to encourage others by sharing the love of Jesus.