Lynda Loveland: Super no more

I’ve been talking on the radio a lot lately about my mom being in town. It’s been great.

My husband and I have been out on “dates” several times while she watches the kids. I soooo miss spending time together. We go out when my mom’s not in town too, just not as much. My mom is also great around the house. The laundry somehow gets done without my touching it!

She gave me a little nugget of advice the other day. She’s always telling me to take a break and stop doing so much. You see, I hit the ground running at 3:45 a.m. and don’t shut it down until 9 p.m. or later.

Well, I shrugged off her suggestion until the other day. It was after dinner and I was hustling the kids upstairs to bathe them. My husband was putting up some crown moulding, (he’s the man!) and my mom started on the dishes. She told me I needed to stop making such involved dinners.

I started to do my typical, yeah OK mom, but then I started to think about it. I usually spend about two hours in the kitchen preparing dinner. I always feel like I have to make this big meal. I’ve been planning my menu a week ahead of time, which has been great, but I’ve also been planning more elaborate dinners. You know, gotta be a SuperMom! The evenings always seem to be so crazy busy! I feel like I’m racing to get everything done by the time I go to bed. It’s as though I’m in a hundred yard dash with no finish line!

But mom’s right, as she always is. There are more important things than big meals every night. For one thing, big dinners mean lotsa dishes. Maybe that’s why mom told me to make simpler meals …

Seriously though, I need to dial it back a notch. Is there a vaccine for “SuperMom” syndrome? Have you scaled back on something without the world falling apart?