My next to last archive post!  Please enjoy!

Originally published 9/26/2010

I would like to know who coined this phrase.  This ridiculous, impossible to achieve, unattainable title.

What makes a Mom a “Supermom”?

Is it that her house is clean?  Her kids are clean?  She can juggle everything and still look clean herself?   Or is it just another barometer in the mass attempt to label and segregate people so that others can flippantly explain someone without having to use actual adjectives?

‘A superhero is a type of stock character possessing “extraordinary or superhuman powers” and dedicated to protecting the public.’  as defined by Wikipedia.  


Isn’t that also the definition of ‘mother’?  Think about it.  


Mothers are stock characters, everyone has one.  And we certainly possess extraordinary and superhuman powers.  Anyone who can change a really putrid diaper and not hurl herself is extraordinary.  Being spit up on, peed on, pooped on, vomited on, scratched, bitten and so on and still absolutely adoring the one doing those things makes one superhuman!  


As for protecting the public?  Who do you think prevents kids from knocking over spaghetti sauce jars in the grocery store, thus keeping unaware shoppers from slipping and landing in broken glass?  


I feel the word “Mom” infers that a person is super.  And that the term ‘Supermom’ is simply a redundancy not necessary to describe one raising children.  In fact, I feel the sheer use of the word adds undue and unnecessary pressure to those of us in the trenches, fighting to raise these children, every day.  


If other Mothers are anything like me, they know the truth.  We all have good days.  The days where we manged to get everything we wanted to do done and still interact with our children, allowing us to lay our head on our pillows with a feeling of accomplishment.  


And then there are the bad days, which seem to outnumber the good 2 to 1, at least in my home.  These are the days when the kids are tantrum ridden, whine driven and disobedient to boot.  The days when the husband comes home tired, the children refuse to sleep and the house work has to take a back burner.  When the work of raising a family actually feels like it might send me, screaming, to the loony bin.  


Regardless, it is just a day in motherhood.  


So, please, I ask you, don’t label me Supermom.  Or any other mother. Keep the capes for curtains.  


Because the simple fact that I get up every day, to face the unexpected and unpredictable, and do it with hugs, kisses and consistency, with no breaks, makes me super.  


The fact that I love it just makes me MOM.