Good Mother

On her 10-week birthday, Feb 6, Tova is well fed and growing nicely.

The day was going well, that is until a stranger to me meddled in my life with unsolicited parenting advice in an obnoxious and condescending way. It set me off. I don't respond well to people meddling, especially to the "advice" of people unknown to me who have no insight whatsoever into my circumstances. I have a temper, I'm not afraid to admit it. Occasionally my temper is a problem for me, though, occasionally it'll get the job done. It usually takes a lot to get me going on my Temper of Terror Roller Coaster, though, in certain circumstances I can go from 0-60 in a nanosecond -- especially when it involves my children. I may have lost my temper this afternoon, my head is certainly hurting like I did. Even if I didn't lose my temper (I'm told I didn't), I didn't respond in a snarky, clever way that would have made me proud. Later, I found out that the obnoxious stranger was a 2nd grade teacher at my kids' school. Now I am really rankled . . .

Since then, I've received reassurance from those dear to me that I am a good mother and that the 2nd grade teacher was out of line. But, it's got me on the rampage because it certainly is not okay to humiliate someone and make them feel like they are a bad mother. That is simply wrong and that kind of behavior holds no value, whether it's to someone like me (a seasoned and generally confident mother) or to someone like my patients (a young and timid teenager who is doing her best). There is just not even an itty bitty drop of water under my bridge -- no siree. Nope.

As it were, I'm not vindictive so I'll have to let this dead dog lie, or is it lay? Also, she's a teacher at my kids' school. I guess there's no sense in making a mountain range out of some pimple-butt-lame-brain-meddling-donkey's stinky meddling molehill, right?

A Rap (of sorts) by Me, the Scorned-By-A-Stranger Mother

Simmer down. Breathe. Meditate.

Cause it's about to get crrrrrazy with an update!

The wind's a-howling and the rain's a-coming down

And I just can't seem to get rid of this frown

But then I see around me within my sight

4-amazing things that I've cooked just right

Our #1 Viking is little Petra the Leigh

Who is sitting at her desk reading studiously

She's tiny and she's pretty but she's tough as nails

With the strength of 100-men and 7-beluga whales

She's a speller, she's a math-er, and an athlete too

She's the super-special something in our rug-rat crew

Then there's sassy Soren, our Main Man boy

Though he thinks he's Jewish, he's really a goy

He likes to play soccer, Legos and games with cards

And the volume of his shrieks can be heard for yards

But the thing about my son that you should know

Are that his happy dappy moods make our family flow

Our third dear one, a precious bundle of joy

Is our 3-year old Annike who is clever and coy

She's soft and she's squishy with lovely blond hair

That frames her darling visage, so yummy and fair

Lest you be fooled by her most angelic of faces

She'll demand to use the potty in the most awkward places

Bringing up the rear is our Baby Tova Marge

At 12-1/2 pounds she's large and in charge

With beginnings quite small but now like a blimp

Some of the best moments with our new little imp

Are the dimpled, drooly grins that cavort with her cheeks

And mingle with goo-gah's as she charmingly speaks

And now it is clear, though I was stung by those words,

I know at this moment that woman was just full of turds

For who so could provide the world with such beauty

Than a mother lovingly committed to her mothering duty?

I may not always be pleasant, perky or perfect and all of the rest

But to those who meddle, know that I'm doing my best

. . . and that should be enough, so shove it!

The End