The Better Type of Mommy

Last night we took our daughter to her weekly gymnastics class. Hubby and I both love to watch her, and she’s getting so much better even in the 3 weeks she’s been going. But it is always a chore trying to entertain our son at the same time. He just doesn’t get sitting there for 40 minutes to watch sissy do gymnastics. His favorite phrase to me is “I go in there when I get bigger.” The gym actually has a child’s area that he could play in, and a swingset* outside, but like I said…hubby and I both love to watch our daughter, so we don’t want to leave the area just so our son can play.

So the weekly tradition has been when my daughter is warming up, I take my son to the vending machine and get him emmies (M&M’s). He entertains himself eating those for most of the class. Last night I felt like every mom was just staring at me…giving me a look that said “I can’t believe you’re giving such a young child M&M’s.” Even the lady next to me who had told me my son was "so cute" kept giving me the evil eye. Then my son dropped the bag of M&M’s on the floor not once, but twice – and of course I helped him pick them up and put them back in the bag to eat, ‘cause I’m a great mom like that.

So while he was having a blast eating his emmies and sharing with hubby and I, I cheered on my daughter while she had an amazing class. She would wave to me, and call for me to watch her do something she was particularly proud of, and oh yeah, I was videotaping the whole class. When she was done I got down on the floor and put my arms out and gave her a gigantic hug and told her I was so proud of her and how her cartwheel looked so good and her arms were so strong that she could hold her chin-up for so long! Then we gathered everything up and headed out the door.

I realized something. In that gym there were two types of moms (and dads): The group that doesn’t give their kids sugar and wouldn’t dream of letting their kids eat off the floor, but who also didn’t hear when their child called for them because they were busy talking, and when they did respond it was very unenthusiastic. And then there were the type that didn’t care about a little sugar or dirt, but that outwardly showed their kids how proud they were of them and how much they loved them (the ones that were cheering very loudly the whole time!). On the way home I decided that it’s better for my kids to have some sugar and other “not-so-great-stuff” and to know how much I love them, and how proud of them they are, and that they always have my attention.


*if you google “swingset” it’s actually spelled both ways equally, so I have no idea which way is correct (“swingset” or “swing set”).