As moms, wearing many hats is required (and not as a fashion statement). Some hats are fetching, while others are rather unflattering. So when I came across this saying, it fit: “I don’t know about you, but I think we’d have fewer bad hair days if we weren’t trying to wear so many hats!”
One particular day, my hair was rather disheveled …
After reading the newspaper with a cup of coffee, I put on my Working-Mom Hat to do a little computer work. While in the middle of an instant message, my daughter asked if I could make her French toast. Down went my Working-Mom Hat and on went my Cooking-Mom Hat.
As the first batch was cooking, I quickly put on my Working-Mom Hat and ran back to the computer. Minutes passed. Then suddenly the thought of burning French toast entered my mind. I dropped the Working-Mom Hat and grabbed the Cooking-Mom Hat as I raced into the kitchen. Safe!
We ate breakfast, but the Organizing-Mom Hat snuck on top my head as I began to make a list of the things we needed to do. The Multi-Tasking-Mom Hat plopped itself on top of the Organizing-Mom Hat as I walked around the house with a mouthful of French toast placing necessary items near my purse so I wouldn’t forget them, stopping by the table to gobble another bite, and then over to the counter to get my vitamins.
After breakfast, the Clean-up-the-Kitchen-Mom Hat stayed on the counter as the dishes cluttered the sink. Instead, I flung the Entertaining-Mom Hat on and picked out a movie for my daughter to watch. Back to the Working-Mom Hat I attempted to finish up a task. Within seconds, another hat peaked out ready to be used.
“Mom, the movie isn’t working. The sound is mushy.”
On went my Mom-Can-Fix-Anything Hat as my hair resembled a major case of bed head. I tried to diagnose the problem — old tape — but she was no longer interested in the mushy sounding movie. To her room she went to play on her computer. I just need to finish this one more thing for work and I’m done. As I headed to my office once again, on went the Working-Mom Hat. Nearing completion of the task at hand, the plea for yet another hat came from my daughter’s room.
“Mom, my computer won’t do what I want.” Now the Computer-Repair-Mom Hat flopped on my extremely messy-haired head. Once repaired (the computer that is, not my hair) the Working-Mom Hat barely landed on my heap of hair to finish up. Minutes later, my daughter came into my office.
“Mom, look at what I made you.”
A tad bit frustrated that my 5 minute task was taking 45 minutes due to interruptions, I almost threw the Frustrated-and-Frazzled-Mom Hat on my head, but fortunately stopped in time to gingerly place the Encouraging-and-Listening- Mom Hat on my head.
“What is it honey?”
“It’s a Certificate of Achievement Aware I made for you, Mom.”
“Thank you! What did I do to get this award? Because I made you French toast this morning?”
“No, it’s an award just because you’re my Mom! I love you.”
Moments like those make me grateful when I leave my Frustrated-and-Frazzled- Mom Hat on the shelf. I’ll switch hats. I’ll multi-task. I’ll be interrupted. I’ll have bad hair days. I just need to remember to keep my Encouraging-and-Listening- Mom Hat close by.
Go ahead — let your hair get messy. Wear a few hats (even if they are ugly). But don’t forget the most important one!
