We Are Perfectly Imperfect

Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better.  Then, when you know better, do better.”  This quote is key in my parenting journey.  It reminds me that I don’t need to have it all figured out, as long as I continue to improve.

I am not the perfect mom.  I struggle a lot.  But, when I am feeling like I am doing a less than stellar job, I remind myself that I am always trying to do better and that’s plenty.  I wish each of my girls had arrived with their own unique instruction manual on how to handle every one of their different phases.  But, alas, that’s now how it works! 

As moms, we will yell, we will say the wrong things, and we will make the wrong choices.  And yet, we are showing our children something very important, we are demonstrating that it is ok to fail.  

The reason this lesson is so important, is that no one is perfect, and everyone can learn from their mistakes.  When we fall short, we don’t stay there.  We don’t plant ourselves in the failure and accept it forever.  We get up, we apologize, and we move on.  We do better next time.

Let’s teach our girls that it is ok to be imperfect.  Let’s teach them that what truly matters is the growth that emerges from our mistakes.  They will watch us, and over time they will understand that human beings are strong and that we can do hard things.  We become more resilient each and every time.  

Our girls will learn grit and how to brush off the dust - lessons every mom wants to teach her girls.  But, we have to continually  better ourselves because humans are meant to grow.  Just like all living things, we must expand, or we will wither and cease to exist.  Growth is part of life.  Growth may not be easy, bit it is what living is all about.  And that is a lesson we all can benefit from.