A dear friend who doesn’t have children recently asked me a very standard, very benign question:
“How’s motherhood?”
I deliberated for a week. I typed and retyped responses in the dialogue box. I started writing things like, Motherhood is the best. It’s awesome. I’m astonished and humbled every day. I found my purpose, my true calling, the reason why I’m meant to be on earth.
I erased those sentences and started again.
Motherhood is a mixed bag. Some days I feel like I’m floating down a river, bobbing effortlessly like an otter on its back, my head tilted toward the sun, my body weightless and my mind on nothing more than playing. Next to me is a smaller otter, a tinier version of myself. We’re splashing and slip-sliding and doing whatever it is otters do. The small otter is following my lead. I dip underwater. He dips underwater. I flip onto my back. He flips onto his back. The air is warm and the water is cool. The small otter climbs on top of my chest, burrows under my chin and together we float as one, at peace with each other in our wild, meandering domain.
Then there are days when I feel like I’m swimming against the current in a heavy Mississippi flood. I can’t touch the bottom. My muscles ache from kicking and paddling. I’m swimming in slow motion past fallen tree limbs and wayward debris. A young boy is clinging to the branch of an old oak, crying like a kitten, desperate to be rescued. “Mama,” he cries “Save me.” I push my body upstream, past overturned cars and floating piles of untethered junk, the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life. Beleaguered but not broken, I wade through waist-high weeds. I climb the tree, retrieve the child and clutch him to my chest. I lower us back into the water. I kiss his wet forehead and like Rose in Titanic I vow to never let go. He hugs me, happy to be in my arms. He tells me he loves me. Then he punches me in the face.
When my childless friends ask me about motherhood I have an urge to respond with these longwinded analogies as if it’s the only way to articulate how terribly difficult it is. GAG.
The truth is nothing is easy. What’s easy is being a kid and even that’s hard.
I willfully signed up to be a mother, ugly bits and all. As much as it may feel like parenting is a herculean feat, it’s not. For better or worse, big people have raised little people for centuries. Same complicated human experience, different generation. Same circle of life, different shit getting our panties in a twist.
As I plod along as a new parent I’m learning that a lot of the pressure we feel as parents has nothing to do with actual parenting. Ask any new mom who has spent hours shopping for organic, paraben-free, mineral-based sunscreen. Ask any new mom who closes the blinds on her front window in the evening for fear of being outed as a lazy cheat who uses SpongeBob as a babysitter while she throws together boxed mac and cheese and frozen nuggets for dinner. Ask any new mom who has looked at Pinterest ever before hosting a kid’s birthday party. Ask any new mom who’s been told BPA-free plastics are actually worse for you than BPA-laden plastics and the most conscientious moms use stainless steel, glass or bamboo products. Ask any parent who has ever read a book, article or essay about parenting EVER because if there’s one thing parents love to do, it’s flap their jaws about parenting.
My Oma likes to say that today’s generation overanalyzes everything. Although I tend to disagree with most generation jabs, I think she’s right on this one.
I recently Googled parenting articles. Here’s the hit list:
7 Crippling Parenting Behaviors That Keep Children From Growing Into Leaders (Forbes)
The Dangers of Being an Overachieving Mother (Slate)
How Couples Play With Dolls Predicts Their Parenting Styles (TIME)
The Perils of Attachment Parenting (The Atlantic)
Why French Parents Are Superior (Wall Street Journal)
All Joy and No Fun: Why Parents Hate Parenting (NY Magazine)
How I Learned To Be a More Mindful Parent (The Washington Post)
The Truth About Parenting and Smartphones (Forbes)
Data Deluge Feeds Paranoia Parenting (Science News)
I’m over the racket. I’m over our societal control issues. The amount of information available today has made us more informed AND more neurotic as parents and as A PEOPLE.
Engage your child, but don’t pay him too much attention. Be French, but don’t eat gluten. Ditch the gadgets, but here’s an app your kid will love.
Whenever the noise gets too loud I fall back on my favorite guiding principle: life liberty and the pursuit of perfect take a freakin chill pill.
Are there days I’m convinced sugar and artificial dyes are making my hyperactive son more hyper and more active? Sure. Do I simply assume he’s THREE and A BOY and no amount of natural food will turn him into a zen buddhist? Of course. Do I read labels at the grocery store? Yes, but Henry also gets a free cookie from the bakery every time we shop so how pious am I? And why is this an issue again? Oh right. Because I’m supposed to micromanage everything because my environment is a cancer-ridden underworld inhabited by tech-obsessed zombies who eat GMO foods and watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Part of the reason why I took such a long break from blogging was because I felt like there was nothing I could add to the glut of mommy material on the internet. There isn’t a topic that hasn’t been snarked about, groused about, dissected, pontificated and preached. Also, like most working writers, I have plenty of personal material and no time to write about it.
And then there’s Henry.
From age two to three he became more high-energy and more demanding than any living creature I’ve ever encountered on this beautiful, wacky planet, which is the real reason why I’ve been M.I.A. Sometimes you slip into survival mode. And that’s OK.
At the end of the day I had nothing left to give this space, but a long look after a tall glass of beer.
I don’t need to tell you that motherhood is hard and I definitely don’t need to analyze it. The real barometer of my competence as a parent is asleep in the room next to me. We went to a park today, ate sandwiches under a tree, traipsed around a playground and played King Kong versus Godzilla on the artificial rocks – a game inspired by the 1960s monster movies my son loves, but is probably too young to watch.
Later that afternoon, over a plate of graham crackers and chocolate milk, he asked me, “When will I turn into a bigger boy?”
“NEVER, if I can help it.”
“When did you turn into a bigger girl?”
“When I had you,” I said.
So, so, so good to hear from you. Love this post. I’m most definitely not a parent but can relate to so much of this post! There is definitely too much information out there.
You posted this right at a time when I’m considering returning to blogging myself. You’ve always been such an inspiration to me! I hope to hear from you again soon (but on YOUR schedule).
Enjoy your life!
Another amazing post, Heidi. Thanks so much for sharing, and girl, can I feel YA!
I love this post. Thank you.
Another enjoyable read from my girl!!!!!! Watching and being a part of your childs life through all various stages is exciting & exhausting and no matter how old or young they are…those feelings & emotions remain.Only difference is now I am in the back seat of that coaster & I am somewhat more prepared. It’s your turn to ride front and center. Being a parent is probably the most difficult job in the world and it is a job for life. It is also the most rewarding job you’ll ever have. The good definitely exceeds the bad. So Heidi…..as a mama that knows a little something about having a high energy child……..Keep embracing our sweet quirky little boy, he reminds me so much of you …..You are doing a great job as a mother while also keeping it real……..Go ahead and scream when you need to (preferably into a pillow though)…….Chill out with a beer….If that beer doesn’t help and you are looking to jump off a cliff, CALL YOUR MOTHER!!!!!!! lol
I’ll try my best to help you unwind so you can hit that reset button and get yourself ready for that next ride.
Love you
Logan also had a personality change shortly after his third birthday. Up until that point I never thought I’d have to ask him to calm down or quiet down- and now he is in constant noise making motion! It’s great he finally “came out of his shell”, but at times I wish he’d crawl back in it a little further 🙂
Great advice on parenting. My son has similar ups and downs… I really like your list of Google resources. I’m a total sucker for a good list and clicked through all of them. Keep up the good work and keep digging up great resources for people like me to obsess over.. Thx – SS
Heidi!
So good to read about your life again! You described motherhood perfectly! I have a 1 year old son now and have pretty much forgotten everything since my daughter was that age. She’s going to be 8 next month! I’m not gonna lie when you said that your son had a huge jump in energy from the age 2 to 3 it scared the heck out of me. I keep on asking myself “when does this get easier?”
The hardest thing about motherhood for me is that I have such a hard time just immersing myself in it and letting everything else fall away. I always feel like I should be doing something more productive with my life, I should have a job, a cleaner house, more nutritious meals on the table, be more physically fit…but really what is more productive than raising a tiny human?