Motherhood takes perfectionism to a whole new dimension.  Guilt becomes a constant companion to not measuring up to our perfect parental ideals.  In the early years of a child’s life, there seem to be an abundant amount of situations for moms to feel less than perfect.  Our children seem so fragile and we can feel so intimidated by that and their constant changes to keep up with, we could potentially make berating ourselves a part-time job.

Last night, a week before turning 9 months, Maya began officially crawling.  It was an exciting and scary milestone at the same time.  The milestone occurred a few hours after slipping on a couch pillow and bonking her head, which scared me.  She got over it and was fine.  I was not and kept repeating the situation in my head and analyzing it to figure out how it could have been prevented and how to make sure it never happens again.  There was a mini family meeting and the report from the analysis was provided.

As soon as Maya started creeping last night, she went straight for the computer chords under a desk.  The baby-proofing project must now officially begin.  Although I have gone through a cycle of child-rearing with my preteen son, I can’t say I’m more laid back with my daughter as a result.  If anything, recent experiences are prompting me to be less laid-back!  Forget trying to have a life of your own!  I must be hyper-vigilant and make sure no harm comes to my defenseless baby!  She is now a very curious, care-free, mobile child without any concept of consequences.  I pray over her every night after she goes to sleep because of SIDS.  There are so many issues to potentially be concerned about!

As my children grow and mature, they give me many opportunities to look at myself and grow along with them.  One gift I would like to pass on is peace with the desire for perfection.  It is ok to aim for something close, but it does not mean we should be unkind to ourselves for not consistently reaching that objective.  We just have to brush ourselves off and keep aiming for the best we can do.  We have to pat ourselves on the back as much as possible for trying and sometimes creating near-perfect moments that in the end maybe leads to a life we can feel mostly proud of.

Created and operated by Goodwill of Orange County in Santa Ana, CA, the site is the first internet auction site that has been created, owned and operated by a nonprofit.   Participation includes Goodwills from across the country with inventories of their donated goods encompassing estate items, collectibles, antiques and new or nearly new items.

Sales revenues fund the organization’s training, education and “job placement programs for people with disabilities and other barriers.”  The organization’s presence includes 5 continents.  In 2005, Goodwill helped over 846,000 people.

The site is open to content from educators.  Richard Ludlow is the founder and CEO of the site.  He came up with the concept while at Yale studying international development.

On-line education is a concept I appreciate as I obtained my MBA this way as a single mom.  It would have been extremely challenging to work full-time, care for a child and go to school any other way.  I was able to structure my coursework the best way possible to tend to all commitments.  It was a juggling act, but I got it done.