Lucy Reflects

Great expectations... and how good it feels to lower them.

This school year, we had our little Beatrix begin kindergarten and Max enter seventh grade. At the same time, I started two new jobs and everyone had to be ready to go at about the same time in the morning. No problem, right? Plan ahead, right? I set great expectations for myself. And that, my friends, was my first mistake.

I would program the coffee pot the night before, pack little bento lunches for everyone, and plan healthy dinners. Everything would be written on the calendar. I’d read every paper sent home, save homework and precious drawings. Uniforms would be ironed out and laid carefully out the night before. You want me to download the reminder app? No prob, just gotta get rid of Bitmoji to make room for it! I would be the powerhouse of this family and balance work and motherhood and be on point in every aspect of my life. I’d be the best soccer mom your sticker family ever saw.

Mmmmhmmmmm…

So here’s how things seem to be panning out thus far. I hit the snooze button twice each morning and get up and realize there’s no coffee grounds in the coffee pot that I set the night before and all I did was brew a pot of hot water. I have five minutes to pack lunches and there’s one slice of bread left, but I need four sandwiches.

“Mom, I need a school shirt, did you do laundry?” Max calls from his room.

“Sure did!” I answer as I’m digging a shirt out the dirty laundry and using some Dawn dish detergent to wipe away yesterday’s stains as I dig through the fridge for other lunch options.

Another one of my quality moments that happened this year was a little glitch regarding immunizations. Full disclosure: our kids are immunized, I just failed to send in paperwork.

“Phil, we need to get Max a therapy dog and Beatrix a therapy hamster.”

“That’s not happening, but why would you say that?” he asks as he tries to figure out if a therapy hamster is an actual thing.

“Because I failed to send in their updated immunization records and they are currently quarantined at the school until further notice. And they are both threatening to drop out.”

You know how coaches in football draw out plays and scream at the players to go this way and that? We need one of those when it comes to our showering schedule. I literally need Andy Reid outside of our bathroom telling us not to tackle each other. I don’t know anything about football or who Andy Reed is (I Googled football coaches), but you get my drift. Until this is resolved, Lavender essential oil will have to be a bathing substitute for me.

I spend way too much time watching Tasty cooking videos instead of actually cooking. Sure, I have all intentions of preparing the perfect pot roast, but often end up throwing a frozen pizza in the oven because I’m freaking tired.

I recently had a parent pick up their child late from school. They were mortified. What did I ask of them? To not spend a single second feeling guilty about it. Because friends, we’re not perfect. We all set out in hopes to nail this art of parenting, but it just doesn’t work that way. And the sooner you take those high expectations and lower them, life gets a lot easier. And if for one second, you feel like you’re alone, just read this blog again.

We want to hear from you, what are classic parenting fails you have experienced? Let’s have fun with it.