Do you ever read an article, and feel so inspired by it that you save it and carry it around with you everywhere you go?
That's what happened to me when I read Julie Bowen's "Aha Moment" piece in the November issue of O Magazine. To those of you who don't know of Bowen, she is one of the stars of Modern Family, a very funny sitcom TV show. More importantly to me, she is a working mom of 3. She writes of wanting to be a perfect mom, and making peace with being a good enough mom.
I can't tell you why I felt compelled to rip this article out of the magazine, fold it up, and stick it in my momAgenda. Literally, I have been carrying it around with me since November.
I think her honesty about wanting to be perfect, and her panicky fear that she is a terrible mother because she works, certainly rang true for me. As much as I preach the joys of being a working mom, there is always that part of me that wonders if my kids would be better off if I were home with them all the time. Not to mention, there are still so many people out there who judge moms who work, and it can be hard to tune that out.
Bowen concludes at the end of the piece, "Maybe I don't have to hit the ball out of the park every day," and I think that's where I really connected with her. In this society where perfection is expected of all of us, I love being able to admit that being imperfect is ok.
And when a beautiful, successful celebrity with young kids, at the same stage of life as me, can admit that she's not the perfect mom, it makes me feel better. Way better than when I read about those celebrities who say, for example, that they don't have nannies. Many of them also say that they eat cheeseburgers every day and still maintain a size-0 figure. I call bullshit on them. Thank you Julie Bowen for telling the truth about being a working mom.