We were ten minutes into the twins’ first basketball game when the mom next to me told me Elisabeth’s shoes were on the wrong feet. This woman was sitting with her toddler daughter, whose shoes were not only on the right feet, but the exact shade of pink as her Ralph Lauren dress. Her daughter could have been an actual Ralph Lauren model.
I explained that Elisabeth’s shoes were on the wrong feet because we were late getting to the game. I’m not sure if this also explained why Sam’s shorts were on backwards and neither of the twins’ socks matched.
Actually, the twins’ socks rarely match because we don’t do matching socks in our house. It takes too much time to hunt for partners and pairing them is mind-numbing. I bet the mom with the Ralph Lauren daughter pairs all her kids’ socks. I bet she’s also on-time and her kid never wears her shorts backwards.
Our family’s strength is not details, but it is relationships. We talk a lot about how everyone is feeling. We pray and tell stories all the time. In fact, we were late to the game because we were talking and praying with the twins about their basketball anxiety.
This doesn’t make me a better mom than a detail-oriented one. Making sure our kids’ shoes are on the right feet would probably do more for our kids’ basketball success than talking about how they feel. And it’s only a matter of time before their peers start to point out their mismatched socks. Maybe the other kids will even point out that their moms care about socks, that good moms pay attention to bows and matching outfits.
If this happens, I’ll tell our kids that God doesn’t make only one kind of good mom. He knows some kids need matched socks and others need long talks. Some need coordinating bows while others need to tell stories.
The moms giving their kids what they need are the good moms.
Look at you. You’re a good mom. You’re doing this right. God matched you with the kids who need a mom exactly like you.
Your kids will turn out to be the people they need to be because they had you for a mom. They need the matching bows, your long prayers, the cute outfits, the mismatched socks. They need whatever you do best.
