Patience has never been a strength of mine. Since I was little, I’ve tried to find out what my presents were before the holidays happened. I get tired of waiting on people when I’m ready to go somewhere or be done with something. My least favorite time of year is the holiday season; I love the joy and the giving spirit, but the lack of control that I have and the need I feel to please everyone stresses me out. The logistics and the schedule complicate things, and I hate things that are complicated. I want easy. I want stress-free. I want to let go of the things that cause anxiety on my part (and in my heart). I’m the mother of four school-aged children, so things are naturally complicated, but I’ve learned to let go of certain “perfections.”

  • The wardrobe. I don’t fight about it anymore. My youngest went to his preschool open house a couple of weeks ago, and then he had a week at home before preschool actually started. For four of those seven days, he wore the shirt he had on when he met his teacher. He didn’t take it off at all. Now that he’s going to school every day, I do insist that he wears clean clothes, but I don’t fight with him when he demands that he wear his socks upside down. His big sister wore mismatched Christmas socks with a skirt to her second day of kindergarten last year, and every striped article of clothing she owned to a birthday party. I see it as an outward show of independence that isn’t hurting me. In fact, without those battles that I’ve chosen not to fight, getting ready to leave the house is much, much more pleasant (and honestly, entertaining).Essie socks
  • The Betty Homemaker Persona. I do not get paid to feed my family. On the contrary, it’s really quite expensive to feed the six of us. If I did, I’d be happy to make every member of the household a meal to satisfy their daily whims. Since I don’t, I make one main meal and they eat it or they don’t. They get a choice of sides most of the time, and they have to choose one. I also don’t make everything from scratch. I try my best to decorate cupcakes so they make the birthday child happy, but I probably made them out of a box. My best is good enough for me and my family, even if it’s not good enough for Pinterest.minecraft cupcakes
  • The perfect family photo. I take a ridiculous number of pictures of all of my kids together. There are four of them, remember, two of whom have very strong personalities and opinions. The “job” I’ve given myself as a blogger-mom, is to create memories and capture them. So what if I try to take a picture of four kids and only two are smiling? That’s a memory. That’s real life. They’re cute whether they’re happy about getting their picture taken or not, so if I have to take a candid shot to get all four of them together or if I have to settle for two happy faces and two grumpy ones, so be it. At least I have a picture to look at later.jammies

What standards of perfection have you let go of?