Chooo chooo y’all and all aboard the hot mess express! Move over Karen! Make room for the new chick on the block, Britney. (A tribute to the Queen of hot messes, Britney Spears). The “Britneys” of the world are hot-mess moms, embracing the messy side of motherhood because we fly by the seat of our pants and are not here for your judgment.
The “Britneys” of the World don’t have this mom thing figured out. Let’s be honest, does anyone really have it “figured” out. The “Britneys” own that mess and run with it. We aren’t moms who meal plan, we aren’t planners in general. We are the moms shoving presents from CVS in a gift bag on the way to a kid’s party because we definitely forgot about it until that day. Also, we didn’t RSVP. We are the moms who may have accidentally thrown a White Claw in our kid’s lunch because we thought it was a Capri Sun and mornings are madness. That lunch also includes all the processed food because chicken nuggets and fruit snacks are life. We are the moms who get to Sunday and realize our kid hasn’t showered in a few days (oops!). We don’t remember school fundraisers (I don’t need another crappy candle) and we almost always forget picture day.
Here’s the thing; humans are messy. Our lives aren’t supposed to be perfect, but we have this idea in our head about what motherhood should look like (thank you social media). Expectations and standards that no one can live up to. Yet we beat ourselves up when we don’t fit that ideal picture of what we believe a mom should be. Then we find ourselves constantly apologizing for our messes and spend time trying to change those parts about us that don’t live up to those standards. We find ourselves constantly comparing ourselves to the “picture perfect” Instagram Mom when we all know that mom doesn’t exist in real life.
What if we started to embrace those parts of us and let go of those standards? What if we all stopped being so hard on ourselves and let go of that mom guilt? So what if our toddler is eating mac and cheese for breakfast; he’s happy and that stuff is delicious. So what if our kid’s birthday party isn’t some elaborate Pinterest worthy affair?
We all have a little “Britney” in us, some more than others (me, it’s me, definitely on the “more” end of that spectrum). I’ve fully embraced it and I can tell you life is way less stressful this way. There are piles of laundry all over my house, dishes are constantly in the sink, and at the end of the day, that stuff doesn’t matter. What matters is my kid is happy and I’m a better mom for letting go of the little things. Instead of cleaning the house, we have dance parties in the living room. Instead of a perfectly “healthy” five-course dinner, we make pizzas as a family. Even if it does end in my kid licking cheese off the kitchen island.
Mamas, come on over to the dark side, the fun side. Let’s stop apologizing. Let’s start embracing the messy side of motherhood and just enjoy the crap out of these moments.
