Oh No She Didn't!!!

I expect the Mommy Bloggers are going to be all over this article (if they aren't already) -- fisking it in fine detail. I bet this woman will wish she had kept her self-centered thoughts to herself:

Of course I love my children as much as any mother, but the truth is I found such events so boring that I made up any excuse.
[...]
My children have got used to my disappearing to the gym when they're doing their prep (how boring to learn something you never wanted to learn in the first place).

They know better than to expect me to sit through a cricket match, and they've completely given up on expecting me to spend school holidays taking them to museums or enjoying the latest cinema block-boster alongside them. (I spent two hours texting friends throughout a screening of Pirates Of The Caribbean the other day).

Am I a lazy, superficial person because I don't enjoy packing up their sports kit, or making their lunch, or sitting through coffee mornings with other mothers discussing how Mr Science (I can't remember most of the teachers' names) said such and such to Little Johnny and should we all complain to the headmaster.

Here is the bottom line, something you were not taught and should have been, it is not all about you. Life does not revolve around you. You are not the center of the universe. Motherhood is about sacrificial love, about loving your kids more than yourself. You seem to think that it's all about you and that they should just put up with you because that's who you are and there is really nothing your kids can do, can they? They're stuck with a mum who loves herself more than her kids. Who cares more about her happiness than their's.

Sarah and I had spent the day fighting with each other and I showed her this article and told her that I wasn't bored with her. She read it and said that the woman was evil. She understands that a mom shouldn't be blabbing to the public that her kids bore her.

There are a lot of aspects of motherhood that can be boring and sometimes you wish you could do something more exciting. But motherhood isn't about me being entertained. It really isn't about me at all. It's about them. I love them more than me. I love them enough to go to their concerts and their activities because I want them to see me there cheering them on knowing that there is someone who cares if they succeed or fail. They know despite everything that they have someone in their corner. Someone with love in her eyes and arms ready to hug when they are feeling down. A mom who will turn to her teenage daughter (after a couple hours of fighting) and say, "Let's make up."

I don't expect other mothers to love to do things for their kids or with their kids, I don't expect other moms to want to spend time with their kids or make them the center of the universe but I do expect them to make sure their kids feel loved and protected and know that their moms want what's best for them. They should at least think they are the center of their mom's universe (yeah, fake it if you have to). The children of the author know that they aren't, they get it:

Because I have categorically said: 'I am not a waitress, a driver or a cleaner,' my children have learned to put away their plates and tidy up their rooms. They've become brilliant planners, often inviting their friends to come for the weekend (because I've forgotten to bother).

Frankly, as long as you've fed them, sheltered them and told them they are loved, children will be fine. Mine are — at the risk of sounding smug — well-adjusted, creative children who respect the concept of work. They also accept my limitations.

They stopped asking me to take them to the park (how tedious) years ago. But now when I try to entertain them and say: 'Why don't we get out the Monopoly board?' they simply look at me woefully and sigh: 'Don't bother, Mum, you'll just get bored.'

How right they are.

These kids know that their mom doesn't really care about them so they've learned to take care of themselves. How sad for them and how sad that she is triumphant about it. Proud of her self-centeredness, proud of her lack of sacrificial love. Proud of the fact that she isn't much of a mother at all. How sad when she realizes one day that being the center of the universe can be really lonely. How sad for these kids that their mom couldn't keep her thoughts to herself.

(Link via Drudge Report)