LORI WEBER MENKE: Supermom vs. Supermom

While recently spending more time than necessary stalking friends and family on a social networking site, I found this cartoon I wanted to share today. I was a little amazed that someone other than myself used the term “Supermom.” It got me wondering what exactly is a Supermom (besides me, of course).

So off to Google I went, and I discovered the following definition for what it means to be a Supermom.

su·per·mom

noun

1. an exemplary or exceptional mother, especially one who successfully manages a home and brings up children while also having a full-time job.

 
Assuming everything you read on the Internet is 100 percent truth, I still have to question this definition.

I grew up with a Supermom, but she did not have a full-time job. Let me clarify, she did not have a full-time job for which she received a paycheck. She was a full-time cook, full-time housekeeper, full-time assistant and a full-time bookkeeper. Oh, and she had four children.

Thinking of the women who have shaped my life, I realize I am lacking when stacking myself up to them.

Both of my grandmothers raised four children on a farm. They had large gardens, canned vegetables, took care of various forms of animals (chickens, pigs, cows) and helped their husbands farm.

My mother also raised four children. She had a large garden, she canned, she paid the bills, did all the grocery shopping and helped my father farm.

Do I do any of the above?

Nope.

I have a few tomato plants in my backyard, but does that count as gardening? Let’s just say “yes,” so I feel a little better.

I have never canned anything. I helped my mom for years, but my job was washing or chopping. Mom always took care of the actual canning process, and my idea of canning might be stacking the cans from the grocery store in the pantry.

Autopay takes care of the bills now-a-days. I take care of the majority of the grocery shopping but still make my husband stop at the store numerous times a week on his way home from work.

I do, however, get paid to work outside the home.

The honest truth is I might have gone crazy during those intensive parenting years if I hadn’t worked outside the home. I have always considered the intensive parenting years to be from birth to about 4 or 5 -- the years when your children are dependent on you for absolutely everything.

During those years, I sometimes joked that I should have paid help to come there to escape. I don’t know how stay-at-home mothers do it. They really are the true Supermoms.

I suddenly feel a little foolish allowing myself to use the title of “Supermom” on today of all days. Today is the day we salute Supermoms everywhere -- Mother’s Day.

The weeks leading up to today were full of Hallmark commercials, newspaper ads, signs in every retail store reminding you to buy your mother a card or something to show her you care.

I have bought cards for the Supermoms in my life -- my mom, Patsy, and my Grandma Joyce. I can’t help but be sad I don’t have one more to send to my Grandma Mary Ann. She passed away 10 years ago, but she always enjoyed getting cards and letters. I remember she always had a wall with greeting cards and notes hanging all over it, if you were ever stumped for a gift idea she always appreciated postage stamps.

Whoever the Supermom in your life today is their day. So even if you already sent them a card or flowers take a minute and give them a call and say thanks for being your Supermom.

Until next time,

Supermom