We all know there’s no use crying over spilled milk, (well, unless it’s breastmilk) but what about crying over spilled smoothie?
It was a Monday morning and I had made a smoothie for my daughter as part of her breakfast. She’s been so picky about eating vegetables but will suck down anything in smoothie form. She threw the cup after drinking some of it but I was in the middle of packing her lunch and didn’t pay too much attention. Then she started crying and when I went to get her out of the high chair, I looked down to see the lid had come off and everything spilled all over the tile, and soaking into the grout was bright pink beet smoothie.
As I was bent over on the floor trying to clean up the spilled smoothie before it stained anything, I just burst into tears.
This of course made my daughter start crying. In between sobs, I tried to console her and then started begging her to please give me a break. I immediately felt like a terrible mother.
Who cries over a spilled smoothie? Who begs their 19-month old to please just give them a small break this morning?
I took her out of her high chair, went upstairs, handed her to my husband and said I need you take her. I must have had a look on my face because he just took her with a simple “ok”. Then I went in the bathroom, shut the door and sobbed.
Why, why was this too much for me?
Let me set the stage a little. I was running on no sleep. Everyone had been sick all weekend, including myself but moms know how that goes. On top of being sick and exhausted, I had a crazy day ahead at work and needed to be at the office on time. Was I crying over a spilled smoothie? Probably not. It was just the final straw in this built up stress.
I sat there and sobbed and doubted my parenting skills for a while. I felt like a failure for letting this all get to me, then after my little pity party, I picked myself up and got on with my day.
“Momming” is hard work. We are pulled in so many different directions. It can be overwhelming and we set such high expectations of ourselves. But the reality is, sometimes it’s going to get to you. You might need a moment to cry and break down but that doesn’t mean you are a bad mom.
I’m allowed to not have it all together all the time. I would easily show grace towards another mom if she told me the same story. I would want to hug her and tell her everything is alright. I would show kindness and empathy. I would understand and know that sometimes stress just builds up. Why is learning to ease up on yourself so much harder than being kind and understanding to others? I had my moment and still was able to get through the day and my daughter survived.
The next day was a new day and we started off with no crying over a spilled smoothie.
