A good mother

Maybe you haven't noticed, but I spend a lot of my time evaluating myself as a mother. (That was a joke, OK?) Taught children about the wonderful world of desert tortoises (good mother!). Let children watch two hours of TV (bad mother!). Baked homemade banana bread (good mother!). Bribed children with handfuls of gummi bears (bad mother!). Etc., etc.

But for quite a while now I've been thinking that the key to being a "good" mother is to get enough sleep.

Everything seems to stem from that. Well-rested mothers don't need to have their children anesthetized by the TV for two hours (one hour is plenty). Well-rested mothers have the energy to cook real food (and the sense to ask their spouses to help out). Well-rested mothers *might* be able to think of more creative solutions to problems than bribery. Well-rested mothers don't lose their tempers every time their children do something annoying (just every other time). Well-rested mothers are pleasant to be around. Well-rested mothers are able to make good decisions.

Granted, I can't take a nap every two hours, so I'm going to get tired during a day spent with the twins no matter how long I sleep at night. But a good night's sleep (a mysterious foreign concept to me) would be a good start. I'd say that's half the problem.

The other half of the problem is a mixture of things. Not getting any exercise during the long hot summer months (June to October). Choosing to drive hundreds of miles on the weekends in order to buy underwear at Macy's instead of at Walmart. (Yes, we did that yesterday. It was not a good decision (see above).)

Also, the more tired I am, the more I let the twins get away with things, which makes them harder to deal with, which makes me even more tired. I am getting tired just thinking about that one.

When I'm tired, I'm still a good mother, just not a very effective one.

I mean, let's face it, most mothers who aren't totally psychotic and sociopathic are pretty good mothers. Even those of us who don't get enough sleep. We all have roughly similar goals for our children (i.e., help them grow up to lead good lives), and we all work toward those goals to the best of our abilities. I use my own mother as my model, and I know other people who use their own mothers as anti-models. Whatever works.

MUST TRY TO GO TO BED EARLIER. MUST TRY. MUST TRY.