One day recently during the summer, I actually had the joy of experiencing a quiet house for a few minutes in the afternoon!  The kids were off to the neighborhood pool with our neighbors, which left me time to get some work done.  Ironically, instead of simply feeling grateful that the nice couple next door offered to take my girls to meet up with their grandchildren for a while at the pool, I felt guilty that I was staying home while someone else was occupying the kids’ time for a while with some summertime fun.  I felt like maybe I was shirking some of my own responsibility by not doing it “all” on my own.  Then I caught myself.  This was a great opportunity for my kids to have fun with friends and allow me to accomplish a few things on my To-Do list!  What on earth was I doing spending one second worrying or feeling guilty?

When someone offers to lend a helping hand and allow you some alone-time as a mom, embrace that generosity for what it is, be grateful for their thoughtfulness, and most importantly, accept their offer when you can without feeling guilty or like you are doing something wrong.  Trying to be the supermom that single-handedly does it all is not only completely draining and exhausting, it is virtually impossible and totally unnecessary.  So, I went on that day to get a few things done while I was by myself, and I looked forward to spending the rest of the afternoon relaxing and enjoying time with my girls after they arrived home – which we did!