What Makes A Good Mom?

Recently I was reminded that I am not exactly the perfect mom. I probably yell too much, get too hung up on minor details and forget to have fun. This is no surprise to most people. However, I ran into a mom at the store today having a conversation with a friend. She talked about how she just loves scrap booking and doing crafts with her kids. She bakes all the time, hosts play groups, and knits. They both discussed recent art projects and their scrap booking trip.

I don't do any of that stuff. I am probably the least crafty person I know. I can't sew. I can barely manage to stick photos in albums, bake only occasionally, and have never hosted a play group. I wondered what that mom would think of moms like me. I know for a fact I am not the only one out there who will never be nominated for the June Cleaver award. I figure I'm ahead of the game if I can manage to set The Girl up with her paints at the easel. Even a fellow blogger friend posts about all the neat stuff she makes with her kids. I guess that's just not me.

Part of me would love to be the mom who breaks out the puffy paints and modeling clay at every opportunity. Part of me wonders if I'm making a mistake by not doing those sorts of things more often with my children. The other part of me knows that I'm just not wired that way. I've never been an artsy person and the thought of trying to become one seems overwhelming.

I did manage to have a craft at The Girl's birthday party. I bought Mardi-Gras masks, glitter, feathers and foam stickers. I set the kids up in the garage and let them go to town with a mask. Then, being the non-crafty mom that I am, I forgot to tell most of them to take their mask home. Now I have five or six cute little masks in my garage that will likely never get returned. Score a half a point for me.

So if you're a mom like me, who can only occasionally dip your toes into the arts and crafts world, I'm sure you can commiserate.

For now, I'm just going to remind myself that I'm doing the best I can with what I've got. I'm not going to let that ever-present guilt get me down. My children are taken care of and I know they love me. In the end although motherhood is tough business, I'm pretty sure the mom police aren't going to come knocking on my door and ask for my Mom Membership Card back.

At least I think not.