You will have THAT kid.

I am dissapointed today. Not because of anything anyone has done but because of what I have done. You know that moment when you say,"Oh that will never be MY kid!" 

I think they call it judging? Judging others to make yourself feel better about your own situation and to bring silent praise to yourself. Well that's why I'm sad-disappointed really, in myself. 

Recently I was involved in a situation where I got the devastating news that 1) I wasn't raising perfect children and 2) What! You mean, there isn't such a thing as a perfect mother?

At first, I experienced anger that the situation had occurred. And then disappointment at the realization that I thought I was somehow a different mother than other mothers were to their kids. But when reality set in that I had made the same judgements about other mothers, I felt shame for thinking that way. 

"Shame shame on me for silently praising myself. Shame shame on me for thinking I was gonna be the first to raise perfect kids. I was really just like them. "

And you know what I discovered about the "just like them" part?

Us moms, we're all the same. Just trying to get through the day. Just trying to make the best decision for our kids. Our one common goal: to raise healthy civil human beings, that when thrown into society will eventually be able to make it on their own. Easy, you immediately think. But really, one of the hardest jobs around.

So...to moms of one kid, to moms of two kids, to moms of three or more kids, and especially to future moms...

"You will have THAT kid."

 You may have one that surprises you with their ugly behavior toward a friend. You may have one who is beyond disrespectful to you. You may have one that won't talk for years, you may have one that lets a cuss word slip, you may have one that has poor health, you may have one that won't pee on a potty for the life of them, you may have one that throws a tantrum in the floor of the most crowded store around, you may have one that refuses to eat everything-including macaroni and cheese, you may have one that sends you to the E.R. every year and you may have one that runs away from home. Just face it! There are no perfect kids!

So next time you start to judge another mother or think better of yourself, just STOP. Stop and think, help that mother out, offer her supportive words. That's what she needs more than your disdainful stare. Think of us as all on the same team, just trying not to strike out in this intense game of motherhood.

“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye."

Matthew 7:3-5