This Is What A Tween Daughter Wants Her Mom To Know

Dear Mom,

You are enough.

You don’t have to be the perfect mom. You don’t have to be stronger or softer or kinder or craftier or make more organic meals.

I see you beat yourself up whenever you raise your voice. You don’t have to be perfectly calm all the time.

I see you disappointed when you don’t have everything under control. You don’t have to do it all alone.

I see you calling yourself out of shape and criticizing your body. But your “muffin top” just shows that you created two children. And that’s pretty cool.

I see you saying you’re getting old and staring at your wrinkles in the mirror. And that’s true. Everyone is getting older. But the older you get, the wiser you are and the more beautiful you become. Because your marks and lines are memories of your life.

I see you worrying that everybody is better than you, but if you really think about it, nobody is better than anyone else. We’re all special in our own way.

You think everything you do for us has to be a masterpiece. But that’s not true. If everything was perfect nothing would be special.

You think you have to do it all—the cooking, the cleaning, the cuddling, the planning, the packing, the picking up, the dropping off, the helping with homework—and actually, you do have to do it all. Without you, we wouldn’t survive a week. So give yourself some credit.

Even though you’re a mom, it’s okay to be human. And have flaws. You don’t have to be perfect.

YOU ARE ENOUGH.

Just as you are.

Love,

Your Daughter

This is an excerpt from the book YOU DO YOU, edited by Jen Mann and featuring several women writers. YOU DO YOU is a love-fest for the females in our lives, and is available now on Amazon, Kindle, iTunes, Nook, and Kobo.