This post is in partnership with Minute Maid as part of their #doingood campaign. I am beyond thrilled to work with a company I absolutely love!
For all of my twenty-two years before I became a mom, I thought I knew what it would be like. I would play with my kids on the floor, we would eat dinner at the table every night, and they would be well behaved and best of friends.
And then I became a mom. There was cereal smashed on the floor, yelling and fights over who sat in which seat, and everything in between. There was little sleep, lots of tears (theirs and mine). Sometimes, I didn’t know who was really in charge of the chaos.
In the seventeen years I’ve been a mom, a lot has changed. All I have to do is look down at the pile of shoes that are now bigger than mine. But questioning if I’m “doing it right” has not gone away. There have been many days of feeling like my best isn’t quite enough.
When I got involved in Minute Maid’s #doingood campaign, it helped me step outside myself. It helped me realize there are moms and dads all over the world that question if they are doing enough for their kids, just like me. Minute Maid’s goal is to remind parents of all the wonderful things – big and small – they do to make a positive difference in their family’s lives.
With all of the negativity staring us in the face on every screen and around every corner, I cannot tell you how inspiring it is to be helping recognize all of the ‘good’ parents are doing. I wish I could go back to my scared, insecure self seveneteen years ago and say, “Don’t worry! You’re doing good! You will have tough things to go through. You will wonder if you’re doing things right. All. The. Time. But cut yourself some slack and just keep loving on those cute kids.”
I recently joined up with some blogging friends, whom I admire and respect, to interview Missy Franklin and her parents, D.A. and Dick. The Franklins and the #doingood campaign is a match made in heaven.
Nicolette of How Does She, me, Amy of the Idea Room, D.A., Dick and Missy Franklin
I met them last year and was immediately impressed with how much love, encouragement, and teamwork poured out of their family dynamic. I wish I could just bottle it up and sprinkle it all over the world. I’m serious.
Josh and I are sort of the opposites of Dick and D.A. (stick with me here….) – we got married at twenty and twenty-three years old. We started a family by the time I was (barely) twenty-two years old. We were young, still trying to figure out who we were, and all of the sudden we were raising our own kids. Dick and D.A. had been together twenty something years by the time Missy came along. They had faced so much together. Being able to sit down and hear their perspective on raising not only an Olympic champion, but a downright amazing human being, was fantastic. They gave me some things to think about. Dick talked about the differences between motivating and enabling Missy. D.A. talked about giving Missy options but having her make her own decisions.
I think you’ll enjoy listening to all of their wisdom and hopefully get a feel for the love that they share by watching our Facebook Live on the Minute Maid page:
And I hope that you’ll feel inspired that all of the little things that you’re doing as a parent, day in and day out, really do make a big difference.
Make sure to visit MinuteMaid.com/carepackage to find more ways to remind parents that they’re #doingood.