Women are amazing. They're funny, intelligent, wild, responsible, and compassionate. Motherhood is an endeavor that should not be attempted alone. By building a sisterhood of other mothers to help you navigate this crazy journey, you are setting yourself up for some of the best times in life. Here are six moms to take with you on the ride.
This mom keeps you centered in the most impossible situations of motherhood. If you're in a rage moment because of a playground incident involving your child and you're about to take every measure under the sun to punish the other kid, you need your moral compass mom.
If you are stressed at work because of incessant papers and insane requests and are considering throwing in the towel, your moral compass mom can provide clarity.
If the kids are particularly loud, and you can feel the walls of your house closing in, she can help you see the big picture. Moral compass moms remove our blinders and help us understand that this too shall pass.
Let’s face it. We all need that friend who is notorious for telling us that everything is going to be all right, even when it’s probably not. We all need a mom who can lie to us, just a little, to calm our anxiety, tell us that we aren’t too old for an outfit that we’ve already put on, that our carpet will be just fine after a spaghetti sauce massacre, or that our son or daughter probably didn’t learn that swear word from his or her sibling. This mom is sincere in her love for us, and she makes everything okay for the time that we need to collect ourselves for when the real emergencies hit.
There are many tear-inducing moments in motherhood. Maybe you're going through struggles with your children’s discipline. Maybe there is a sickness in your family. Maybe your daughter started listening solely to pop music. Maybe you watched "The Notebook" again. Whatever reason, this girlfriend is there with some Kleenex and empathy.
Sometimes an empathetic moment with a fellow mother is as comforting as it gets in a world this hard to navigate. A good cry with a good friend can cleanse the soul and prepare you to take on whatever comes your way next.
Sure, you’ve been known to have some air head moments in your life. Maybe you’ve been caught looking for your toddler or your phone while having one of them in your hand. Maybe you thought it was Friday for an entire Thursday. No matter what, you need a mom that’s smarter than you in your life.
You need a CNN-watching intellectual to tell you to turn off the Kardashians and do something with your life. This mom will have Navy Seal-like discipline, and will make you the best form of yourself (if you're up for it). By engaging in conversation with an intelligent woman with kids of her own, you can learn from each other and soak up the brilliance in your most scatterbrained moments.
The only thing better than a good cry is a good laugh. It is proven that people who laugh more live longer. Our brains crave laughter. Yagana Shah wrote an article for the Huffington Post called New Study Proves That Laughter Really Is The Best Medicine and in it, researchers found that “incorporating time to laugh, through social interaction with friends, enjoying exercise in a group setting, or even watching 20 minutes of humor on TV daily, can enhance your learning ability and delayed recall.”
Having a mom that never fails to crack you up is essential to sanity. It will not only help you interact better with your coworkers and neighbors but it will also make you much nicer to your kids if you’ve engaged in a belly-burning laugh fest with one of your favorite moms. Whether it’s laughing at something one of you said that you can’t take back, or laughing at a mindless cat video online that your daughter’s best friend’s stepmom sent you via text, laughter creates sanity.
Being a mom is tough. What’s even tougher is remembering that you're a human being, too. Remember late night dancing? Remember hopping from place to place by choice? Remember being out in the dark with only the neon lights or the moon lighting your path?
We all need a mom who still remembers this. We need her to extract us from our houses, keep us out past our bedtimes, and remind us how to find our way to the front of a concert. By letting loose, freeing your spirit, and dancing the night away, you can reconnect yourself with the person you were before motherhood. This mom knows the balance between responsibility and play. It’s time to let loose with this girlfriend and rediscover freedom, even if only for one night.
The six moms you need in your life are essential to being a healthy mother. Life is too complex to navigate by ourselves. Finding these types of moms can add spice and laughter to your world. They can help you find clarity and excellence. Some of our friends carry more than one of these roles, and they are usually called best friends. As long as you have these six personalities to take the stress out of mothering, you’ll be set to conquer the most important job you’ll ever have.
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