mommy guilt

Today I drove through the McDonalds drive thru and bought my kids happy meals. This is not something that I do. Seriously, unless we are on a trip, I try not to let my kids eat fast food. Even on crazy soccer/baseball nights I try to plan dinner early, or at the very least, pack thier dinner for us to take. As I sat in the line waiting to get their bags o grease I felt SO guilty!!! What in the world possesed me to do this? Was it easy? maybe... Was it good for them? NO! What was I thinking???

What is it in mom DNA that makes us feel guilty? Why can't I just chalk it up to a special treat for the girls and get over it???

I have this crazy idea in my head of what the perfect wife and mother is. The house must be clean, the kids must be clean and well mannered, the wife must cook a nutritious and delicious meal every night, the food must be organic, non processed, all the while with a smile on my face because I have the most amazing husband who works so unbelievably hard to give us this life, the life I want for my family...

This is next to impossible to do btw...

But I try-I try hard. Sometimes to a fault. Sometimes I work so hard on the house, I neglect my kids. Sometimes I'm so wrapped up in Emi's homework, dinner ends up being chicken nuggets and tator tots. Sometimes the folded laundry doesn't get put away. Sometimes I'm just so stinking tired at the end of the day that all I want to do is go sit somewhere and let someone else feed my kids and husband. So much for the perfect mother.

So for tonight, I will try to get over the guilt. Tonight I will relish the fact that I was able to take my kids to McDonalds and let them have a happy meal for no other reason that I decided they could. I won't feel guilty that I didn't cook for them, that it wasn't organic, that I didn't see what actually went into making it, and I will be happy knowing that tomorrow they will eat healthier.