Most Wonderful Job in the World

Being a mother is the most wonderful job in the world, but the fruits of our labors are not often immediately apparent. Sometimes it’s hard to see the progress or feel the sense of achievement that is easier to measure and identify with other jobs. My dear friend once described it well when she told her husband that in leaving the job force behind to stay at home with her first daughter, she no longer received job performance reviews to help her gauge her success in her most important job. However, because of our human need for validation and because we care so much about being great moms, we look for signs that we are doing the right thing all over. Without a written job description, we do what comes naturally—we compare ourselves, and our children, to other mothers and their children. We compare labor stories, newborn milestones, walking, talking, reading, grades, athletic & musical ability, behavior, college entrance exams, and on and on. And all the better if my son just won the summer swim league championship—right? That must mean I’m a good mother. What about when my daughter can’t read Harry Potter at entrance to Kindergarten like my friend from church? How many of us have let our own feelings of worth about the work we do slip because we compare ourselves and our children to others? I know I have been guilty of this.Motherhood is NOT a competitive sport. I don’t know exactly when I realized this, but it has been liberating. I can love my four children, praise their successes, and be unashamed about theirs and my own shortcomings (we ALL have them). I’m not less of a mother then my friend who has 8 children, or better than my friend who’s child didn’t pass the test for the advanced program at school—we are all mothers. Motherhood is not a game with winners or losers, it is a journey and I believe that one of our greatest resources are the others mothers we associate with—just remember, they need cheerleaders too!