The other day, I told a mom friend I was hosting a sleepover. I confessed to her that I hardly ever let my daughters have sleepovers because I always freak out about what the girls will do and where they'll sleep and if, heaven help me, everyone is having a good time!
"I don't do them either," she told me.
Photo Credit: Vinamra Agrawal via Flickr.
Later that same day, I told another mom that my daughters were making dinner that night -- something they'd never done before in spite of being a tween and teen, because I'm an uptight mother who never cooked with her kids.
"I don't cook with mine either," she told me.
I. Don't.
Who knew two little words could be so freeing and encouraging?
I feel like I'm surrounded by moms who do. They do spectacular birthday parties, and they do homemade hummus in Bento Boxes for school lunches. They do craft projects every day of the week, and they do ... everything. With their kids and for their kids. Which is great for them, if they love it and if it charges up their mom spirits.
But I just ... don't.
I don't do and haven't done and won't do so many things. And the other day, my friends showed me I'm not the only mom who doesn't do. Which felt like a gift.
In case it feels like a gift to someone else, here are a few other things I don't:
I don't have it all together.
I don't do Pinterest-inspired birthday parties.
I don't take pictures of every moment of my children's lives.
I don't know what I'm doing a lot of the time even though I've been at this for a while now.
I don't make my kids do enough chores.
I don't serve my children the recommended five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
I don't like everything about being a mom.
I don't have this all figured out.
But, here's what I do do
I do love, love, love my children.
I do enjoy them.
I do cherish them.
I do love spending time with them.
I do pray for them.
I do talk to them.
I do listen to them.
I do treasure them.
I do want joy and satisfaction for them.
And I do love this quote from Go-To Mom Jill Savage: "There is an art of leaving things undone so that the greater thing can be done."
What I don't do -- what I leave undone -- frees up time and energy and passion and enthusiasm for what I do do: the greater things.
The value of that is something I don't have any doubts about.
And if you're an "I don't" mom, you're not alone.
Because I don't, either.