Let’s face it: being a mom takes a lot of work. Being a great mom takes even more. Or so we think…
What if being a great mom wasn’t so tough after all? I think sometimes we make it harder on ourselves by creating this image in our minds of the perfect mom. And then we beat ourselves up for not matching it.
Enough already! It’s time to go gentler on our selves. And it’s time to embrace those life hacks that allow us to pull off some “great mom” moments without a lot of fuss. Because we all know there are enough “bad mom moments” in all of our lives that we could use a few great ones to even out the score (since we all know we’re counting, even if our kids aren’t).
Want to welcome your kids home from school with a glass of milk and some fresh hot cookies? Yeah, right. Who’s got the time for that? you’re thinking. You do, when you keep the end in sight and not the means.
Last week I snatched my opportunity to be that mom. My eldest daughter had mixed up some chocolate chip cookie dough over the weekend (we won’t talk about what I was letting everyone do with that batter as it sat in our fridge for the next couple of days, but let’s just say it involved a spoon and the risk of salmonella. What can I say? I’m a sucker for chocolate chip cookie dough). My girls happened to have staggered return times due to different school schedules and after school activities. So a few minutes before each one returned home I popped a couple of spoonfuls of cookie dough into our toaster oven, set it to bake, and voila! Fresh baked cookies and milk for an after school snack.
As each girl munched on warm cookies, I chose that moment to sit with her and catch up on her day. We chatted briefly and then each went on to do their homework.
All told I spent about a half hour in the kitchen that afternoon. The cost to me was minimal, but the return in terms of relationship building (and points for “mom-of-the-year”) was priceless.
You can do this too. During down time, whether mid day, in the evening, or on the weekend, mix up some cookie dough. Then refrigerate a portion (hide in the back of the fridge if you don’t want it eaten raw) and roll the rest up on plastic wrap, tuck in a storage bag and store in your freezer for the future. Then pick an afternoon to bake up individual portions in your toaster oven (or conventional oven). Serve to an eager child just after school gets out. And enjoy your moment as the dream mom! Who knew it could be so easy?
Have any other life hacks for moms you’d like to share? Tell us about them in the comments (we could all use more “great mom moments”).
Love this reminder! Thanks!
What I do is make up a batch of cookie dough when I have the time, scoop it out onto waxed paper using a mini-ice cream scoop and freeze flat until the balls are hard enough so they don’t smoosh. Then I transfer them to a freezer bag. When it comes time to bake them, I just pull them out of the freezer, pop them on a pan, and straight into the oven. I’ve found that starting from frozen, they need maybe an extra minute. Who says you have to bake the whole batch in one go?
White Girl – you’ve streamlined this hack to an art form! I’m going to use your method (only I think I’ll put my kids to work with the mini scoop – they’ll have fun and it’s less work for me). Thanks for sharing!