Politics and Motherhood

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We hear what’s happening in the White House on the news, but politics and motherhood play a role in the everyday lives of parents everywhere.

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The world of politics is a tricky thing. Politicians try their best to stand up for the issues that they believe in, all while attempting to appease the masses. Sounds familiar, right? Whether you follow politics or not, there is an important political type of situation that we as Mamas must face, which is that when we have families of our own, we become politicians in our own sense. So basically, politics and motherhood go hand and hand. As children, teenagers, and young adults, we create a very cut and dry image in our minds of what kind of a parent we are going to be and how we are going to raise our children. But once the kids actually arrive, we find that parenting isn’t as cut and dry as we thought, and instead we must use all of our intelligence to constantly re-evaluate our positions. Since we are the government of our household, we as mothers must decide what happens and what doesn’t happen within our families. Come to think of it, maybe some of the politicians running for office could learn a thing or two from how we handle the politics of Motherhood. Because, whether you like admitting it or not, at the end of the day, motherhood is political.

Thoughts on Politics and Motherhood

We make the rules, and sometimes we break the rules.

Yes, with being the leaders of our ~~countries~~ households comes this advantage of being able to make the rules, which can sometimes be a challenge and is certainly a huge responsibility to choose the right ones. We set rules for our children in regards to daily chores, school, helping around the house, and dealing with others. In turn, if these rules are broken, they are punishable by a constructive layout of consequences, specified for each individual child based on age, past offenses with breaking this particular rule, and the severity of the rule breakage. But then again, over time we find that each rule isn’t always foolproof, and there can indeed be many exceptions to the rules. Like any great politician should know, most Mamas understand that rules may be broken for numerous reasons, and sometimes the breaking of the rule is of our own doing, intentional or not.

So whenever it comes to the “ruling of the household rules,” our ~~citizens~~ families should follow our lead and always resort back to that most beautiful of golden rules: Mama knows best!

We make promises that we can’t keep.

It happens sometimes, and there is absolutely nothing that we can do about it! We are not perfect, even though we strive to be. We must leave room for error in our ~~campaigns~~ parenting, and sometimes we learn as we go. So, whatever goes amiss, we must dust ourselves off and get back in the saddle. I’ll admit, sometimes, I’m not the mom I wish I was, but that’s okay.

We bribe, and sometimes take bribes.

There are no secrets here. It’s one of those things that you say you will never, ever do….but that’s before you have kids! We try to follow the most constructive form of bribing in our house, which is a set of rules creatively displayed and typed out on computer paper magnetized to the fridge, alongside a sticker chart. Each day that all rules are followed, Branden gets to put a sticker on his sticker chart. Ten stickers yield a trip to the toy store. Easy enough. Then, there is a whole different set of bribing that happens between my husband and I, which goes something like this:

Him: “Babe, I really don’t feel like doing the dishes today, can you please, please, please do them?” (He says, meanwhile there is a mountain of dishes, and it’s clearly his day to do them.)

Me: “No, it’s your turn.”

Him: “I’ll buy you the Marc Jacobs wallet you were looking at in Bloomingdale’s the other day.”

Me: “Deal. Let’s kiss on it.”

Now in reality, shouldn’t we just all follow the rules for the ~~country~~ household and help around the house where it’s needed? One would think, but hey. At the end of the day, sometimes we all need a little bribing to serve as motivation to get the job done. And who could turn down a little reward here and there for a job well done?

We make sure that there is not a deficit.

As mothers, we control every type of deficit in the household…not just dealing with money, though that is a very big part of it. We make sure that every need for every member of the household is being met. This can be a balance struggle sometimes, because it is difficult meeting all needs at every given moment. Balance being the key word here. In order to accomplish this juggling act successfully, we must make sure that we are always looking at the big picture. We often ask ourselves: which needs are the most important? Then, everything else trickles down from there. In most cases, we put the needs (and wants) of everyone else ahead of our own, which leads me to my next point.

We make sure that we put the needs of our country ahead of our own.

As time has evolved into a more complex society, more and more pressure and responsibilities have been put on us Mamas. We are expected to work full-time (whether at a corporate job or at home), cook meals, clean, and be a feisty little sex kitten while we do it ALL! Therefore, we are constantly fighting for the wants and needs of our ~~country~~ household all while fighting for time of our own to regroup, relax, and refresh ourselves so that we can be the best ~~politicians~~ Mamas we can be, on a daily basis.

Looking for motherhood chit chat? Here you go!

In conclusion, if a golden handbook for being the perfect ~~politician~~ Mama existed, our ~~campaigns~~ lives would probably be a lot simpler, but possibly a lot less exciting. So if you REALLY want to understand politics, there’s no need to turn to Barack, Joe, Mitt, or Ryan – just ask a Mama!

Just my thoughts. What do YOU think? Do politics and motherhood go hand and hand?

Fashionably Yours,

Allison