In today’s society, there is so much pressure to be the perfect parent. Moms are expected to do everything a certain way from the moment we find out we are pregnant. Expectations, especially coming from social media, really put the pressure on moms to not make mistakes. I saw every potential mistake I was going to make as a mom as something that would harm my children forever. These expectations are not realistic, and they certainly aren’t fair to moms. We are all humans, and humans make mistakes. Your kids want to see the REAL you, not a pretend version of you that is unrealistic.

I have decided, as a mother, to show my girls the real version of me. That includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. I want my daughters growing up knowing that I gave them the real version of myself because that is what they deserve to see. When I first became a mom, I tried so hard to be the perfect mom. I tried to never get angry, upset, or show my true emotions. Unfortunately, that did not work out. The more I tried to hide my emotions inside, the more they tried to come out. That led to crying, anger explosions, and just overall stress for me.

Eventually, keeping my emotions bottled up led to me thinking I was a murderer. I had such a fear of being angry in front of my daughter that I started to worry that being angry would make me a murderer. During that time, I remember crying so hard anytime I got angry. The pressure I was putting on myself to be perfect was killing me on the inside. It wasn’t fair for me to expect that kind of unattainable perfection because it would never happen. I didn’t deserve to treat myself that way, and my daughter didn’t deserve to see me treat myself that way.

I will never be the perfect parent. Never. However, I am a really good one. I love my daughters more than my whole life, and they are going to grow up knowing that. Yes, sometimes I lose my cool in front of them. Sometimes I get overstimulated and upset with them. Sometimes I laugh too loud. Sometimes I get upset and cry in front of them. You know what? That is real life. Humans experience those kind of emotions. All I can do is my best. When I make a mistake, I apologize to them. What I am not going to do though is try to be the perfect mom. That is not possible. I am just going to show them the real me.