Tis the season for baking and all things holiday. Once the weather drops a few degrees and firing up the stove doesn’t make my AC work even harder than it already is my kids start to beg me to make cookies or all the other things that go along with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
This year my son is bound and determined to make cookies for the bus driver, his teachers, the police, and the fire department. Apparently, he has inherited my suck-up to the authorities trait. (Not sure if I should be proud or not)
They have been BEGGING to bake lately, and I have kept them at bay with that good old “maybe tomorrow” promise. But I finally had to give in this weekend. But I REALLY hate baking with my kids!
Ok….ok… HATE might be a strong word. But I really strongly dislike it.
For one we all have to take turns dumping and stirring and cracking. Forever arguing about whose turn it is, and “He took my turn, I wanted to crack the egg” and on and on.
There will inevitably be some sort of spill that derails the whole process. And it is in these moments I realize I might not be a FUN mom. My first response is not to pick up the fallen flour and start a war in the kitchen while we laugh (Isn’t this scene in like every mom movie?). My first response is to swallow my rage and stress, put on the “it’s ok” face and clean up.
But alas, I DO want my kids to have life skills as they grow older. I do NOT want to be the mom whose kids have moved away to college or whatever path they choose and worry that they can not feed themselves.
So I suck up my distress and often invite my kids to cook or bake with me in the kitchen. And I may post smiling pictures on my social media of my kids proud of their hard work. But I want you to know behind the camera I am probably stressed out, my back hurts and I am ready to get the task DONE!
Society has conditioned us to think that if we do not LOVE every second of being a parent that there is something wrong with us.
But I am here to promise you, it is ok not to like doing things or certain activities with your kids. I’m sure there are things that your spouse likes to do that are not your favorite but you do them occasionally because you love that person. You would never let someone call you a bad SPOUSE for not liking ALL of the same things as your partner? So why do we let society tell us we are bad MOTHERS because we don’t always enjoy doing things?
It is just not that cut and dry.
We are all just doing our best.
So the next time you are in the kitchen with your kids or doing some activity that makes you cringe know you aren’t alone! Every time I bust out the baking supplies I am dying a little on the inside, but we typically make it to the other side with nothing but my waistline hurt!
