What Kind of Mom are YOU?

Hello Momma's and Happy Tuesday!

I belong to a moms group here in my hometown that meets during the school year, basically, every Thursday. This is my first full year I will will be attending as we just moved here last year and I'm SUPER excited about it. It's a great group of women, all ages, that meet at a local church to encourage each other while our kids play in the children's nursery (AKA Adult Time!). This group follows MOM to MOM Ministry's, which are booklets and videos basically about motherhood and how to navigate it with a forgiving heart. Why am I telling you this? Well, one of my Thursday meetings hit home hard and I feel the message is a great one for all of us moms just trying to keep our head above water sometimes.

This section talked about What Kind of Mother are You. It had so many good points about how every mom is going to parent differently, even maybe from how their own mother parented and thats OK. It also explained what kind of parent God calls us to be. I'm going to focus in on the points of the section that hit closest to home, for me.

1. Attempting to "do it all" will only "do you in"
• We all know that Pinterest Mom who has the perfect home and cute Bento Box lunches she sends off with her perfectly primed child to school right? Wait,  you don't know her? Me either! My point... Social Media only shows us what that person wants us to see, usually the good, not the bad. Which brings me to my next point.
2. Lose the "What would people think" perspective
• It doesn't matter what your neighbor/best friend/ mom/etc thinks of how you're raising your child. Are you breastfeeding, great. Formula feeding, great. Does your child sleep in bed with you, awesome. Oh, yours is sleeping through the night in their crib, way to go! The only thing that matters is what God thinks. Are we Providing, Protecting, Preparing and Passing it on. It DOES NOT matter how we get these goals accomplished, but that we take care of our children the best we can. 
3. You're not your mom, you're their mom
• This can apply to more than just that statement. I'm basically going to say that one thing I've learned since becoming a mother is that EVERY child is different. What may work for one may fail miserably for another. What your mom tells you worked wonders for her maybe be polar opposite with what works for your child. Shut those voices out if they're stressing you. You're mom and friends/family can come with great advice sometimes that might just save your life, but that doesn't mean ALL advice is good advice. Learn what's best for your child. 
4. Keep the Most Important Thing the Most Important Thing
• Love your children. This by far is the easiest thing to do and is not measured by the size of the bow on her head, contrary to what a picture of a beaming child might tell you with a hashtag that reads #thebiggerthebowthebetterthemommy. Be happy for that momma though, she's having a good day and we can all agree we want to shout from the roof top when we're having a good day! 

I am sure throughout my future posts you will learn about my struggles as a mother that will make you understand why these four points stood out to me. If I explained them now this post would be entirely too long and you would be bored if you even had the time to finish it during your child's nap!

I hope that you can look at these points, however, and be reminded that what ever you're doing, it's the right thing and you're doing great.

<3 Lindsey