Have you ever faked a migraine to escape a mommy duty? How many times have you pretended to be asleep so your husband gets up for the baby instead? God knows how many other stories we’ve kept to ourselves just because they don’t render us “as the ‘typical good mom’ material.
In the era of #Instaperfection and social media’s portrayal of ideal people and ideal relationships along with society’s constant judgmental perceptions, rarely do we find someone to tell us the actual truth about motherhood.
On Mother’s Day, we’ve joined forces with Molfix Egypt and talked to five different moms who all agreed on one thing: the perfect mom is just nothing but a BIG FAT MYTH.
“Who defines perfectionism? There are single moms, some have husbands who help, and some don’t. Others live with their moms, while some do not. There’s truly no border or frame for what constitutes the perfect mom,” says Nariman Sadek, a mother of two.
While Lobna Amer, also a mother of two explains what she thinks motherhood is about, “It’s not about doing everything right. It’s about trying your best to protect your kids and to be there with them in every step of their lives.”
Being used to seeing moms responsible for keeping everything under control, keeping track of where everything and everyone is, it was certainly interesting to watch all five moms confess that at some point in their mom journeys, they had absolutely no clue about what they were doing.
Some messed up their kids’ meals, others pretended they’re asleep or exhausted so their husbands take care of the children for a while. “At first I used to sanitize everything before my kid could use it, but now he’s just all over the place, it’s uncontrollable and I try to convince myself it’s fine,” laughs Yasmin Amr, a mother of a two-year old boy.
Another mom, Fashion Designer Passant Badran, confessed about an even funnier story,
“I was once very hungry and bought a muffin. When I went back home, my son wanted to eat it, I gave him a piece, but then distracted him with a cartoon on TV so I could eat the rest of it alone. I give him everything, but I really really wanted this muffin,” she says.
And when we talk about moms messing up, an embarrassing diaper story has to come up.
“We were once traveling on a train and I couldn’t find a bathroom to change my son’s diaper. Like any other Egyptian mother, I had to change his diaper in front of everyone,” says Lobna.
Another common suffering that the five mother shared was people’s judgmental perceptions.
“You’ll always find some to tell you are doing something wrong and have mercy on your kid although you think you are doing the best you can to make them safe and in good hands,” says editor-in-chief Reem Gamil, a mother of an 18 months old toddler.
Questions like why don’t you breastfeed your kid? Are you pregnant or have you just given birth? And zillions of other motherhood pieces of advice were on top of the mothers’ list of annoying conversations that make them feel guilty for no apparent reason.
But on Mother’s day, we tell you that all moms are special on their own way. No matter how they do it, motherhood was, is, and will always be one of the most special bonds of humanity, spreading power and love to the world!