Man, I HATE it when I read something that is supposedly an example of someone being a really bad mother, and then realise I’ve done that myself. A couple of months ago, I read a book review of a memoir written by some lady who had a drinking problem and worked to overcome it. A quote from the review highlights a passage in the book where, to illustrate just how wretched her drinking problem had become, she describes her horrible guilt at having fed her children corn flakes for dinner, because she was too sloshed to cook.
I haven’t exactly stooped to corn flakes but I can definitely see that happening, and I don’t even drink on a regular basis (although, I am thinking of starting now, just to have the excuse). I hate, hate, hate cooking, and my kids basically have the same five meals over and over and over again, and some days when I’m tired and cranky and facing yet another day of going into the dreaded kitchen to prepare yet another meal of noodles and oven fries, it’s just too much. At least twice this past month the kids have had toast, sliced cheese, and apples for dinner. Barely one step above corn flakes, I’d say.
Since I read that review I’ve been in a bit of a mommy-hood funk. I feel as though other moms out there are busy whipping up meatloaf and mashed potatoes with a side of homemade cornbread and braised carrots on a daily basis. It didn’t help that we recently visited LittleSis, an awesome cook, and she was feeding her baby a self-created recipe of spinach and chickpeas rolled into crunchy oven-baked balls of goodness, while I was feeding my kids Cheerios and granola bars for lunch.
Corn flakes suck.
TurtleHead 
Some random, hopefully supportive, comments:
1. It’s fine to be good at something without being great. You don’t have to be super mom! Trying to be something your not just zaps energy, and when you’re low on energy, you can’t do the things you’re normally good at.
2. If you ranked all the moms in the world from best to worst, you’d definitely be closer to the top than the bottom. Growing up, I think we all knew that LittleSis would be on the high-end of super-momness. But just because she’s great doesn’t mean you’re bad.
3. Okay, true, you don’t really cook but you do a tonne of stuff for your kids that other moms, moms which do cook, don’t. For example, our mom never played with us. You play with your kids all of the time!
4. There’s nothing wrong with repeating meals. I read in Fitness recently that people who stick to the same 5 to 7 meals tend to have better weight balances and get a more balanced diet than those people who have a tonne of variety. Variety tends to make people eat more than they typcially would (case in point: our poker nights. Think about how much less we’d eat if we only had one choice of snack.) So really you’re just teaching your kids good eating habits. 🙂
5. Try introducing one new meal each month, and don’t shoot for the stars. There are lots of simple dishes that really aren’t “cooking” but do combine stuff together to look impressive. I’ve been having a Moroccan-spiced fish dish lately that’s divine. It’s not spicey, just savoury, and it’s a snap to make. Your kids might like it! I’ll send you the recipe.