No Instruction manual...

Only when you are in the hospital holding your new baby and starting your family for the first time do you realize, your baby didn't come with an instruction manual! Being a mom is the greatest joy anyone can experience. Being a mom is also the hardest job in the world. A job you can't call in sick if you want the day off! A job that requires you to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year...with no overtime pay. A job you ask yourself over and over again if you are doing it right, and doubting yourself every time! Just this morning I found myself struggling with making the right decision. you see as far as myself is concerned, I have never cared what people thought. I have always been my own free spirit if you will. Never worried about my hair, or my make up. Never worried if someone was going to like my outfit or choice in music. I do however worry about how people see me as a mom. I am no super mom that's for sure! Being a mom is something I chose to do and it effects someone else's life. I need to make the right decisions, not for me but for the well being and growth of another human being. This being said, every morning I pick my kids clothes out for school. I make sure they match, are not high waters, don't have holes in the knees and so forth. I do this so they are not teased at school. I let them get creative on the weekends! My oldest however who will turn thirteen soon started picking her own outfits this school year. I decided she was ready and it was about time where teenagers personalities are blossoming into young adulthood. Sometimes how we put our outfits together is how we express ourselves. Today I looked over my kids to make sure they didn't have milk mustaches and their teeth were brushed properly. My oldest emerged from the bathroom wearing an A-line skirt with two very mismatched socks! My first reaction was, "NO! you can't wear that!" She responded with,"WHY?" I proceed to tell her, "the socks don't match", "I hope you have shorts under that skirt", and "you have mosquito bites on your legs"! She responds with, "so"! Now I am thinking Hmmm, what do I do now? No instruction manual for being a mom! I ask her, "you don't care that you have two totally different wild socks on"? She says, "no, it doesn't matter what people think, I don't care"! As my brain is trying to process everything in this moment, my heart becomes proud! She is right, It doesn't matter what people think as long as she is happy with herself! This is the point she is trying to make by wearing two totally different socks! Today I had to swallow my pride and let my daughter make her own decision on expressing herself! Sure someone may see her at school and think, oh that poor child doesn't have any matching socks. I can't believe her mom let her out of the house that way. Isn't this what is wrong in our world? We are so quick to judge and worry about what others think that we can't just be happy in our own skin. Don't judge a book by the cover! To some who see my daughter walking the halls may think I'm a bad mom, that my child doesn't have proper attire when in reality, my daughter has a cabinet full of socks...all that match. She chose to wear two that didn't! I made the decision to let her! Maybe she will encourage others to be happy in their own skin too! Have a wonderful day today and everyday! Be happy in your own skin, and don't worry what others think! We are all in this world together, living life the best we know how with no instruction manual!