I think it’s safe to say that when reading this Pinterest post above most mothers feel this way.  We all often suffer at one time or another from “Mommy Guilt.”  Working mothers feel guilty that their kids may not be getting enough family time at home because they’re in day care all day.  While stay-at-home moms feel guilty that their kids may not be getting enough socialization with other kids because they’re at home most days.  Seriously, as moms we are always questioning ourselves, constantly wondering if we are doing the right things, or even worse if we are doing the wrong things?

Lets face it, motherhood does not come with an instruction manual and there isn’t a help line to call that can tell you the perfect way to raise your children.  All we can really do is rely on our own instincts, try to educate ourselves by listening to other mothers’  experiences, while sharing our own experiences as well.  Of course there are the old stand-bys, parenting books, websites, our own mothers to learn from.  However, the bottom line is every child is different, therefore every parenting experience is different too.  There really is no one perfect formula that works for all children.  Scary, I know.  

On top of all this, us mothers have our own needs, our own desires, our own wants out of life that step out of the realm of just motherhood, but you know what, we feel guilty about this too!  It can become an endless vicious cycle of guilt.

However, when you choose to become a mother you do choose to put someone else’s life ahead of yours, at least that’s what we’ve been taught that good mothers are suppose to do.  However, doesn’t finding happiness within ourselves as individuals, make for a better outcome in raising and sustaining happier children?  Maybe it is okay to sometimes let go of the Mommy Guilt and put ourselves first, even if it’s only just for one day out of the month?  Perhaps this one day of selfish indulgence can actually aid us into being better mothers.  After-all we want to try to avoid Mommy Burnout and the best way to do this might just be to let go of some of that Mommy Guilt.  

It feels very natural to put my daughter’s well-being before mine because her happiness brings me the most joy in my life.  However, I still need to do things that revolve solely around me as an individual, so that when my daughter grows up and leaves the nest, I will not have forgotten what it is to be me as an individual, not just as a wife and mother, but as my own woman.

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