I absolutely loved growing up in a big family. I always wanted to have a big family of my own, but things rarely turn out the way we plan. Being a mom is rough stuff. Yes, there is so much joy that comes with it, but the day-today, nitty-gritty is hard. The toddler temper tantrums. The kids waking at all hours of the night. The laundry. Bleh. I HATE laundry. The lack of privacy while using the restroom or showering. The never ending messes. Kids talking back. Kids not wanting to eat their vegetables, or any food for that matter. Not to mention the worry. Are my kids being kind to others? Are kids being kind to them? Are they a follower or a leader? Are they honest? Am I teaching them the necessary skills to make it in the world? 97% of the time I have no idea what I am doing. I seriously googled “how to stop my kid from screaming in the store” the other day. The “lets use our inside voice” was not working at all. I swear my little guy was THE inspiration of the purple minion in Despicable Me 2!
My kids seriously stress me out, but they also bring me the most joy. The spontaneous “I love you mom”. The smiles. The singing songs together. The “come sit by me mom”. The random dance parties. Reading books together. Painting toe nails and watching “I Love Lucy” re-runs. Watching them being kind to others. Watching them succeed. All of these things make my heart swell with so much joy.
My own mom is a fantastic women. She was so strong when I know that I would have given up. She made sure we had what we needed and more. She works so hard and always has a smile on her face. Growing up she was not the “perfect” mom. She made her fair share of mistakes. She is the first one to say that if she could go back in time she would do so many things differently. But you know what? There is no such thing as the “perfect” mom. No one does everything right. Kids don’t come with an instruction manual. And every single kid is SO very different. What works for one kid, many times won’t work for another. My mom is a good mom. She did her best, and did all things out of love.
One of the many memories I have of my mom “being a good mom” happened was in high school. I worked at a call center from the time I was 15. I had a ride to work with friends that worked at the same place, but there were days I needed a ride. I was a typical teenager, I thought I knew it all, wanted my independence and could be snotty. Okay, pretty darn snotty. My mom and I did not see eye to eye and I did not give her lots of reasons to love me. I made her worry a lot. In reality I gave her lots of reasons to hate my guts, but you know what? She didn’t hate my guts. She showed me love when I did not deserve it. I remember her coming to pick my best friend and I up for a ride to work, and there on paper towels she had a slice of homemade bread with butter and honey as an “after school snack”. I would not admit it then, but her taking time to make one of my favorite comfort foods, and then bringing it all ready for me made me feel so loved. It was a very small gesture, but one that meant a lot to me.
A couple years ago I was in Jo-Anns looking for some Christmas ribbon and my little guy was acting up. He has lots of energy all the time, but that day was different. He was crying and screaming so I ended up leaving the cart and heading out to the car. On the way out he threw himself on the floor between the two sets of glass doors for all the shoppers to gawk at us as they entered or left the store. I tried several times to grab him but I ended up getting hit in the face and decided to let him have his tantrum right there. I cannot tell you how many dirty looks I got, or irritated glances. This went on for well over 10 minutes. I was seriously feeling like an awful mom. My son on the dirty floor screaming his guts out, irritating all the customers. Just then an older lady came over to me, put her hand on my shoulder and said “You are a great mama. All my kids did it too. Keep up the good work”. Wow. I was so not expecting that, but I instantly felt those feelings of “awful mom” pass. That was all I needed. A little encouragement that I was doing okay. Come to find out my 15 month old son had double ear infections and THAT was why he was screaming on the floor!
Am I perfect? No. Do I always know what to say or do? No. Do I make a lot of mistakes? Yes. ALL THE TIME. But I am a “good” mom. I am trying, just like you.
Sometimes us moms just need a kind word. “You are doing a great job.” ” You are a good mom”. “Keep going”. “My kids did it too”. “You are a good mama”. Know any moms who could use a little encouragement? Well HERE is a free printable so you can do just that. This ONE is a link for one to print on an 8.5 x 11 paper. *Just a reminder that you do NOT have to have an account with Dropbox. Just click on the link. It will ask you if you want to sign up for an account. Click on the “X” in the corner and a box will pop up so you can download and print it off*
Send them an email. Print it off and drop off a treat. Let all the women in your life know that they are good moms. You may be just what they needed to hear today.
{If you want to do something similar to this with the bread, I cut some parchment paper a bit smaller than the bread. I punched two holes at the top of the quote, pulling the ribbon from the bottom of the bread threaded it through and tied a bow. *To stop the ribbon from fraying you can light a match and allow it to melt just slightly.
For another friend I wrote a card and just put the quote inside the envelope. I love to use washi tape to decorate the envelopes or cards ;)}
**As I was dropping off this bread and note to a friend she was outside taking stuff out of her recycling bin. As I got out of the car she told me she was having to go through the garbage as her oldest son thought that he threw away his most favorite and valuable Pokemon cards. A great example of a good mom 🙂 **
See the Happy!
-Kirsten
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4 loafs | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 40 minutes | 12 minutes |
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Delicious whole wheat bread, perfect for honey or jams, a wonderful addition to soups or stew.
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- 5 cups warm water do not exceed 140* Fahrenheit
- 2/3 cup oil
- 2/3 cup honey
- 2 TBS salt
- 3 TBS yeast
- 12-14 cups whole wheat flour *This is approximate. I usually use 12 1/2 - 13
- 1 TBS oil for the counter and your hands so the dough does not stick
- Pam for 4 bread pans
- *I borrow my mom's Kitchenetics mixer to make this bread recipe*
- Put the water, oil, then honey (using the same measuring cup so the honey slides out easily) into the mixer and mix briefly. Add 5 cups of flour and mix until the flour is wet. Add the salt and the yeast. Turn to speed one and keep adding flour a little at a time (1/2 to 1 cup). Add enough flour until the dough does not stick to the sides and bottom any longer. Put the lid on and turn up the speed to number 2 and allow to mix for 6 minutes.
- Turn on the oven to the lowest temperature, my oven's lowest is 170*.
- Coat the counter space you will use with about 1 TBS of oil. Once the 6 minutes is passed, remove the dough from the bowl, making sure you have rubbed your hands in the oil to avoid the dough from sticking to your hands. Divide the dough in 4 equal parts. Take each piece and mold it into a loaf.
- Place the dough in a greased pan, making sure that it is evenly pressed down into the pan. Place it in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size. Once it has doubled, turn up the heat in the oven to 350* and bake it for 40 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and put on cooling rack or towel to allow it to cool off. We always use some butter and lightly rub over the top of the bread allowing the butter to melt which gives it a delicious flavor. Serve with honey or your favorite jams.
This was a fabulous post! Makes me get emotional. I feel like a horrible mom a lot of the time. And I worry about my little girl all the time, and I worry that I am not a good mom to my step-kids. Ugh! This made me feel just a little bit better. I’m not alone! Thanks, Kirsten!! 🙂
Kirsten I love this so much! I was in tears sense I started reading it. I felt like a horrible mom so many times. Like you said we all need to be told once in a while that we are doing well. I haven’t really had that. At times I used to get depressed, specially when I had my first baby, sometimes people can be so ugly. Instead of giving you words of encouragement they are great at putting you down. I feel reliefed to know I am not alone.
Abby, thanks so much for stopping by! I think all moms out there have had the same feelings. We all need to give each other a break and give encouragement. I know you are a wonderful mama taking care of those cute boys of yours. Keep it up! Your kindness to other moms will make a world of difference, and perhaps even help those moms to stop and think about how they treat others. We all need to be the change in the world 😉 Take care!
Kirsten, you just made my heart remember and cry. Mom’s just are. We are given them for a reason. Your story just touched me so much. I admire you for staying the course. Raising children is one of our highest callings. Yet so do not understand. I admire you. Thank you for sharing your bread recipe. I will make some and share. We are not perfect yet, we are still in our steep learning curve…whoo!
Thanks so much for your kind words Beki! Motherhood is such a hard thing sometimes, but SO incredibly rewarding! All we can do is our best and love on our families. I would love to hear how the bread making goes! Thanks so much for stopping by!