The Best You Can Be

Priorities are funny things. Obviously my children are my number one priority. There are times though that it gets complicated. Is spending an hour doing bath and bedtime rituals a priority over curriculum night at my two year olds school? It’s a dilemma I’m always faced with. I want to make sure that I tend to all the behind the scenes stuff that is necessary to care for my children (groceries, laundry, baby books, etc). Yet I don’t want to put that stuff in front of quality time spent with my children. As I’m currently struggling through working (although only part time at the present moment) and balancing the kids, I forgot about curriculum night tonight. I wanted to be one of those involved mothers, always at school, knowing everyone and engaged in the coursework. However, I’m faced with curriculum night tonight, which will take me away from my two precious children for an hour plus during the only real time I have with my kids all day. Is it a priority to go to curriculum night in order to effectively develop my child from all angles (solidifying the lesson plans by working on similar things at home) or spend the time with my children during an already hectic evening? I want to be both kinds of parents. In my dream of parenthood, I would have been able to do both because I would be at home with them all day and an hour away at night would not be detrimental to time spent together. In my reality of parenthood, I work all day and am not sure a two year old really needs curriculum night. Is that my answer then or am I making excuses to not be involved in my son’s education? I know how to put my children in front of shopping, spa days, and parties. How do I prioritize them on curriculum night? Then again, what happens in years from now when there are baseball games and ballet recitals? How do you manage to be everything to everyone? And most of all, when will I stop being disappointed with myself for falling short? I’m doing my best, but what happens if my best is just not enough?