What's an Awesome Mom?

I recently posted a pic on facebook and a friend commented, "your an awesome mom" I read the comment several times and began to ask myself, "What is an awesome mom?"  

The last few weeks it seems that it has been a battle of the wills with my daughter. She is the only girl with three brothers, and she is just like me.....all the good and the bad!

 Most mornings we debate about the issues of her clothes and hair and daddy has to help come up with a compromise.  I could not tell you how many times he has said, "you need to let her pick out her own clothes and do her own hair." What??? I could not begin to fathom the idea!! I have spent a lot of time and energy over the past nine years of motherhood trying to post pics in life showing that I have it all together with my kids....making sure their clothes matched, not too wrinkled, their hair was combed. What would the teachers at school think of me if I let Emma go to school in clothes that did not match, or her hair not done????? The thought was overwhelming!! I then remembered the comment about being an awesome mom....Was I really such an awesome mom if I cared more about what the staff at school may think of me based on my daughter's clothes than what my daughter needed emotionally. So, thanks to my husband's prodding I let go this week.  I did not do Emma's hair once this week. I did not pick out a single outfit for her.

Monday was a little scary. She came downstairs in her Cinderella costume from dance. Daddy gently redirected her. She did her own hair, which was a random ponytail on oneside of her head. When she came home she shared with us some of the mixed reviews she had gotten on her new hairstyle. As the week went on it got easier and easier. Thursday she wore a dress with a pair of boots and no tights. I did not say a word. I actually began to enjoy it.  I began to see a change in her. More confidence, and less pushing the limits. I had tried to keep her in such a box with little room to move all because of the fear of the opinions of others.

I realized this week that I was letting fear of what others may think of me as a mother keep me from being an "awesome mom". This week I saw Emma blossom in her independence. That is what being a mom is about encouraging and fostering growth in our children.

Next week I may just let Emma wear her Cinderella costume to school.....