Dropping a Ball Doesn’t Make Me a Bad Mom

You can keep your planner up-to-date.

I’m really rather obsessive about mine.

You can write out to-do lists or use some sort of check sheet to keep yourself on track.

You’d laugh if you saw the tally sheet I do each day when it comes to work, to make sure I’m doing everything I need to be doing.

You can be super organized.

I always had my own system of organization that probably nobody else would understand, but to me, it was organized. I’ve had to become more so with trying to juggle my work schedule and the kids’ schedules.

But even with all that…

Sometimes a ball is going to drop.

Something is going to be forgotten.

Or sometimes it’s not that it’s forgotten, it’s that there are a million other things going on and there’s no possible way to do it all.

A few weeks ago, when we had one of those crazy weeks of snow, where they kids only went to school 2 days that week, with one of them not even starting on time. My kids are generally pretty good about knowing that I work from home and that they need to let me be to do my work(ah, the joy of older kids), but after being home for so many days in a row, not being able to go anywhere due to the icy roads, not able to go outside because it was sleeting more than snowing… they were all stir crazy and while I got my work done, it was all exhausting.

So when we finally had a normal school day that Friday, I delighted in being able to get things done in the quiet, so I got right to it. I was even done with an hour to spare before school pick up, so I read a book and reveled in the quiet before we went right back to the weekend chaos.

But as I walked up to the school, one of the teachers gathering my kids as she saw me walk up, I saw my oldest was carrying something in his hand. Something that looked like a certificate of some kind.

And it hit me.

During that last hour when I was thinking that I actually had gotten everything done and that I had time to relax, I was supposed to be at the fourth grade awards because my son was getting an honor roll certificate.

One that he’d worked really hard for, that he was super excited for.

And I dropped the ball.

It was right there in my planner.

Yet I still didn’t make it, it wasn’t even on my radar.

We had already had a special ice cream treat and movie night to celebrate when the report cards had come out, so it wasn’t like we didn’t celebrate his achievement. And I know that not every parent could be there since many don’t have as flexible a schedule as I do.

But I still felt bad.

Though really….

We all are going to drop a ball somewhere along the line.

Something forgotten, something impossible to get to due to work or another activity or even just flat out exhaustion.

None of us can do it all.

So while I still wish I had remembered and gotten there, a friend made me feel better by telling me that I must be doing something right if he’s on the honor roll in the first place. And I’d have to agree.

I’m not doing it all, I make mistakes, I forget things, I drop a ball now and then…. but that doesn’t make me a bad mom.