You know you've been slacking off as a mother when you tell your daughter to get dressed and she counters with, "Why?"
I was about to answer with something like "because I said so" or "because that's what people do...I think?" but my tongue got caught and instead I said, "I don't know. Just get dressed."
In fact, the only reason we were dressing in the a.m. was to go to an appointment. I do try to have all of us (myself included) dressed and breakfasted and ready to greet each day, but it usually ends up being lunchtime by the time this is accomplished. And some days it doesn't seem worth the effort to swap out their pajamas for day clothes when they're just going to go to bed again 12 hours later. I know--mom of the year committee should be ringing me any day now.
When I was single, it was typical to wear pajamas all day on a day off when I wasn't expected to go anywhere. When I was married without children, we'd look forward to those days of staying indoors and staying in our pajamas. Now that I have kids, there's suddenly all this societal pressure to teach my children by demonstration that living your entire life in your pajamas is probably not the best way to be a productive member of civilization.
If in twenty years you see two young adults walking around town in their pajamas and blinking confusedly at the sunlight, treat them kindly. Their mother was also a very confused person.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Oh my goodness. I laughed so hard at your post that L looked up (since he's nursing right now) so confused from all the jostling. This is awesome.
ReplyDeleteThere is so much pressure to be/look put together after having kids for some reason! I used to not brush my hair and call it the messy-hair-don't-care look before having kids, but now a bunch of people will say that I look tired, or ask if the kids were crazy that day, and I just gave up. "Fine! I can comb my hair! I care! Happy??" It's silly. Tony always asked who's on this judgment committee, the one that makes you feel bad if you don't have dinner made by 6:00 p.m., or if this house is messy when guests come over. He's accused me of being head of said committee, which I refused to believe until I thought logically (for once).
Let your kids be kids! I need to say that to myself more. Pajamas are great. Marshmallow cereal has vitamins sprayed on them. And if they end up being those kids who walk around Walmart in pajamas (which I think I did, now that I think about it), know that you taught them well because they are not living in a nudist colony. Pat yourself on the back for that one.