We all want the very best for our children, but it’s impossible to do everything right all the time. Admitting that is freeing – and it’s also encouraging to other moms in the midst of intense seasons. That’s the idea behind our Monday Mom Confessions and we’d love for you to join us – share your own confession in the comments below! Let’s throw off the weight of perfection and get real around here!
It’s no secret that, for the most part, I try to cook healthfully and from scratch. But there’s also a dose of grace built in because even though I love cooking and everything it entails, mama also needs a break once in awhile. So, once a week we budget for takeout.
But one day, in a particularly busy season, I started to wonder – if we were careful, could we eat takeout every night for the same amount we budget for groceries?
With that, the seed was planted to outsource a major household task in order to make room for some of the other things on our plates and bring a little more margin to our lives.
And so, we did. For a whole week I didn’t cook. Dinner came from a restaurant kitchen every single night. And even though it didn’t turn out quite the way I expected, I learned something.
I learned that things can be done well even though they are done differently.
I’ll be honest. Because feeding my family is a strength of mine as well as a task that I truly enjoy, I have the tendency to get a little judge-y when I hear about families who do things differently. That cook more processed foods, that eat out more often, that frankly just approach this meal with a different set of values than I do.
I know it’s stupid and wrong. Which is why I don’t say anything about it and just privately feel ashamed at how self-righteous I am sometimes.
{Wait, is this a confession about how judgemental I am, or that I fed my family takeout for an entire week? Maybe it’s a little of both.}
But anyway.
At the conclusion of our takeout week I stepped back and realized that, even though the strategy wouldn’t work long-term for our family, it was entirely possible that frequent takeout could be a great solution for another family.
I didn’t expect to feel that way.
So to you mama, who struggles to get dinner on the table or wrestles with guilt over the food that you’re serving, let it go. Make improvements if you want to, but if you don’t…let go of the guilt and just do what works for your family.
I fed my family takeout every single night for an entire week. And I wouldn’t be opposed to doing it again if I needed to.
After all, there’s more than one way to do things.
Learn more about our family’s “Takeout Experiment” here: how it came to be, what we ate, and what we learned.
