Little Mrs Not-So-Perfect

Well according to every ad on TV I am sorely lacking in every way, shape and form!  Have you noticed that every mother who is depicted in ads look absolutely stunning (don't count the RACQ ads!) has an immaculate house, dresses their children impeccably, makes gourmet meals for dinner every night and has a husband who gazes at them lovingly whilst she wipes away the one little smudge on the stove top that she carelessly plopped there in a moment of imperfection.  Oh, and she never raises her voice or stops smiling.
Bahaha!

I hope I'm correct in my assumption that I am not the only one whose life is so far from this depiction and that others also become mildly irritated every time one shows up in the middle of The Biggest Loser or Revenge!  I know that it's all marketing (Zali, you know how they roll) but it does nothing for the self-esteem of hard-working, every-day mums.

I'm going to be honest, and tell you that my kitchen is not always cleaned up straight after dinner and my benches are full of broken toys that I said I'd fix months ago, school notes and awards, baby bottles and this week Easter egg wrappers!  I aspire to have a clutter-free kitchen, with only a bowl full of ripe fruit as adornment, but I constantly fail.  My lounge room is a conglomerate of DVDs out of their case, Wii remotes and matchbox toys (at the moment there is no lego or random bits of junk because Aedan would have them in his mouth in a flash).  My double garage only fits one car.  The kid's bathroom is rarely without toothpaste splatters on the mirror and we won't talk about their toilet (4 boys remember!)  I have been to many friend's homes that look exactly like mine and I still respect all of them and think of them as amazing women and fantastic mothers.

It's taken me a long time to get to the place where I've stopped giving myself a hard time about my household imperfection.  I remember (and I still occasionally have a mini-breakdown about the mess or the pile of washing at the end of my bed) letting myself get worked-up about the chaos around me and wasting so much energy on criticising myself.  Finally, after a decade of being a mother, I am comfortable with choosing other things as my priorities.  I have chosen my business (because I have to).  I have chosen my family (because I love them).  I have chosen going to the gym (because I need to and I love it). 

My husband couldn't care less and in-fact has been the biggest advocate for "getting over it", and I have started to worry less about what my Mother thinks (yes okay, I do a mad dash around before she gets here!)  My boys are absolutely oblivious to mess (aagghhhh!) and they do not know what a washing basket is, so they certainly don't think any less of me.  My biggest critic is me and I am trying hard to let go of the unobtainable image of perfection that my TV keeps showing me and although I find the RACQ ads so utterly annoying http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKin2cSnb5Q, part of me likes to think they're closer to reality than that ad with the disposable anti-bacterial kitchen wipes.  I can't believe I wipe my benches with a cloth!