Mommy meltdowns

I watched another mother have a complete meltdown over a finger-painting project recently.

While attending my daughter’s weekly art class, I noticed the mom next to me getting increasingly frustrated. Her 18-month-old daughter was apparently not smearing the paint just right or placing the foam stickers where she wanted, because this mom kept uttering statements such as, “I’ve had it with this project,” and “No that’s not right. I am so over this.”

She even swore once because a foam butterfly sticker smudged the paint.

Umm … it’s a toddler’s art class, lady. Calm down. Take a deep breath. Remember that this is only going on the fridge for a week. Settle down.

Watching this mom lose it over finger paints made me sad for her daughter, who was too scared to do her own art project. I’m no mother of the year, but in this instance I felt glad that my own daughter’s painting was just how it should be — a complete mess.

I’m not always so patient, however, like when my daughter pours half the flour on the floor instead of in the bowl or comes down wearing a bathing suit when it’s below freezing outside. I often have to pause for a moment and ask myself, “Who cares?”

Messes can be cleaned. Mistakes can be fixed. Moments can’t be relived.

Do you ever find yourself getting bent out of shape over little things? How do you take a step back and keep things in perspective?