what kids need.

I think you’re the best, mommy.

I didn’t believe him.

I sat in my living room, on the worn plaid couch that for years I’ve wished to replace, and I heard those words tumble from my six year old Elijah’s mouth directed for me. That sweet boy, the one who loves Angry Birds and has the energy of four kids tucked into his little body, was standing there.

Staring at me – the weary mom.

And simply telling me he thinks I am the best.

I wanted to debate with him.

I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t.

I wanted to remind him that I was short tempered and lost my patience when we couldn’t find the missing shoe and that the living room was messy and that the dishes from breakfast were mixing with the dishes from lunch waiting to be done and that I’m sorry that we still hadn’t read the book that he had brought down before breakfast and that I shouldn’t have been distracted.

I saw all the things that I didn’t do right.

I saw the Halloween costume scraped from things that were tucked in the dress up box that’s normally shoved in the corner in the laundry room with the unfolded basket of socks resting on top. It’s the box that they beg to take out and so often I tell them not right now simply because I don’t want to deal with the mess.

He didn’t see that.

He saw that I pulled out the box and that I helped him figure out a costume. He didn’t care that it was last minute or that it wasn’t super creative or that it wasn’t the coolest latest trend. He didn’t care that the hat was from the airport in Chicago and that it was purchased on the way home from one of my speaking engagements.

He saw that I helped him find that pilot hat and that I helped him stick on a $5 felt beard that itched him like terrible but he wanted so bad to keep it on his chin. He saw the $1 glowsticks that I grabbed in the deals section of Target that we threw in his plastic grocery bag making it glow.

He remembered that I let him help make chips and cheese for lunch.

He remembered that when he worked on his homework that I was so proud of how he made his lowercase e.

He didn’t see all the stuff that I remembered.

We’re hard on ourselves moms.

Let me repeat that.

We are hard on ourselves.

That’s the truth. We are plain and simple really terribly hard on ourselves. If you were to come into my home and describe my mothering you would probably describe it with a great deal more grace then often I’m willing to give myself. Yet we live in a world and a culture that is constantly trying to put parameters around what makes a good mom and what kids need. There are blog posts, pinterest pins, cute pictures and quotes on facebook, adorable instagrams, and clever tweets all about mothers. More and more and more.

Our kids don’t see those things. They’re not scouring facebook or pinterest making sure that we’re doing all the things that often time we think we should be doing.

They’re just being kids.

Who need their mom.

A mom that is there for them when they fall and need a bandage. A mom that’s willing to listen to their tales from the day. A mom who makes them spaghetti with just enough sauce and extra parmesan cheese sprinkled on the top. A mom who loves them. Even when she’s tired or worried or thinks she’s not doing enough.

Being a mom isn’t about doing all that stuff that we think we should always be doing.

It’s about being there in the thick of things, in the trenches, and doing your best.

And sometimes your best looks one way and other times it looks totally different. It doesn’t need to match what your friends are doing or what you see on pinterest or facebook or on television. It’s the best for you and your family. Your kids simply need you.

They see you for what you really are. Even if sometimes they don’t admit it. Or don’t say it. Or slam doors in your face. Or are obstinate. Or don’t want to eat dinner. Or won’t go to bed. Or don’t clean their room. Or when it feels like they don’t see all the stuff that you really do. Like laundry.

Being a mom isn’t easy.

It’s giving constantly. It’s being creative, confident, inventive, proactive, energetic, pondering, nurturing, patient, loving, joyful, rule keeping, rule setting, teaching, caring, staying up until the wee hours of the morning, not comparing, always learning – it’s all the things that you already do that are often so easy to dismiss.

So to you, right now, the mom in the midst of the journey, to you I just want you to remember that today, right now, what you are doing really matters. It may seem small or inconsequential or that you’ve said no candy right now a million times (at least that’s what it feels like in my home) or that you’re just being a mom.

Just being a mom is exactly what those silly energetic feisty drive you crazy at times kids of ours need.

You are being the one that nurtures little humans. Teaches them to survive and thrive in this world. You teach them confidence and that wearing blue crocs on Halloween are cool. You teach them what it means to be brave and to keep going. And you teach them about selfless love and giving of self.

And it’s not in the big perfect things. It’s the little things. The hugs. I love you’s. And being the one that smiles at them no matter what.

Start seeing that.

So sweet mother who may feel weary in this motherhood journey. Who may feel like she’s doing the same thing over and over. Who may feel like she’s working, working, working, and racing home and just getting minutes of time. Who sees everything where she thinks she messes up. You know what? Do you know what do kids need?

They need you.

The imperfect real perfect for your kids mom.

~Rachel
All photographs used by permission and credited to Hannah Nicole.
Images and original content are sole property of Rachel Martin and may not be used, copied or transmitted without prior written consent.