Wednesday 20 July 2011

Confessions


These are the organic, whole wheat pancakes made with eggs from our own chickens, served with pesticide-free raspberries from our own back yard that we eat every Saturday morning on "Pancake Day".


This is my dear, baby girl drinking Coca-cola from a baby bottle.


   Nobody is righteous all the time.


    It's not just food. 

I wore my babies but I still had an exersaucer.  And a swing.
 I homeschool but some days all we learn is how to measure the extent to which mom will freak over another glass of spilled milk.
 I'm Dutch but I could plant a weed in the filth behind my toilet and it might grow.
 I was an art student but now I craft (kill me now!).
I like animals but last night I went to the circus. 
 I like to support independent artists but sometimes I get the Biebs stuck in my head. 
I appreciate good literature but sometimes a Danielle Steele page turner is nice on vacation(scratch that, that's just reprehensible) 
I use the word "nice".  
I've read "Wind in the Willows" and all of the Little House books with my kids but right now there's a pink and glittery, gawd-awful princess book in our library box. 
 I breast-fed my babies but I have,in the past, bought 2 cans of formula. 
 I use cloth diapers but am currently on a Pampers vacation out of sheer laziness.   
I understand the benefits of positive parenting but I still yell at my kids. 
I don't bake my own bread, I buy it at the store even though I know it's not as healthy.

  
The list goes on and on. 

There's a million reasons to feel guilty.  That's what grace is for.  When food or parenting styles or lifestyle choices become a condemning religion, it's time to eat a kit kat and realize that maybe life is about just a little bit more.  Even Jesus found the religion of "musts and mustn'ts"  really annoying.  Perhaps it's not about me anyway.  Maybe my kid won't plunge into a downward spiral of sugar addiction and illiteracy if we all enjoy a donut and a Disney movie on a Friday night.

Gotta go.  The cat is eating leftover boiled eggs off of the table and I can't allow that.  Good people don't.
    

4 comments:

  1. I've sent you an e-mail comparing my lifestyle in Canada with my lifestyle in Mexico. Who have I become?!!

    Wendy

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  2. Thanks for this - it resonated with me in particular today with my over the top reaction to a third glass of spilt milk ;) I often think of my mom and her friends parenting in the 1970s - there seemed to be less guilt, less anxiety, less concern about the weight of each mothering choice. We're a wound up bunch.

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  3. I don't think "parenting" was even a word when we were growing up. My mom went about her business and I did too.

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  4. Thanks for the laughs! I'll relax a little more tomorrow about getting nothing done (for the 5th day in a row!)

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