I've often thought that Mom Scouts (and Dad Scouts) should be a thing. Earning badges for parenting rites of passage? Sign me up!
Some badges I earned early in my parenting career included:
The "First Blowout" Badge: Earned the first time your baby's diaper doesn't do its duty, but your baby sure does.
The "Here's Your Baby" Badge: Earned for a particularly swift hand-off when baby's daddy walks through the door at the end of a long, fussy day.
The "Ah-ha! Nuh-uh" Badge: Earned when you thought you had this baby sleep thing figured out... until the next night.
I thought about these Mom Scouts badges again today, because I realized that being rewarded for the inevitable messiness of parenting might help. Sometimes. At least a little. (Or maybe that's just me? I'm a wee bit competitive...)
So HERE are the Mom Scouts badges that I've earned in the past 48 hours:
The "Human Puke Bucket" Badge: Earned when you have caught the majority of your child's vomit on your own person.
The "Waterworks" Badge: Earned when you unapologetically burst into tears in front of your children.
The "Double Bubble" Badge: Earned when you need to drain the tub, clean out the bodily fluids, and bathe your child again.
The "Loads of Loads" Badge: Earned when you complete 15+ loads of laundry in a 48-hour period.
The "Full Tummies" Badge: Earned when a meal is 2 hours late and comes from a drive-thru, but hey, your offspring get fed.
The "Roll Up the Rugs and Cover the Couches" Badge: When you prep the house for a potential puke storm.
The "Peek-a-boo" Badge: Earned when you frequently (perhaps obsessively) peek around the bedroom door to check on your sick and sleeping child.
The "I Bet the Target Employees Washed Their Hands After This Order" Badge: Earned when you only purchase three things - Pedialyte, Clorox, and Lysol - in a single transaction.
The "Lysol Bomb" Badge: Earned when your house smells strongly like an "Early Morning Breeze" late at night.
The "Praying I Don't Earn Any More Badges Today" Badge: Enough said.
Have you earned any Mom or Dad Scouts badges recently? I'd love to hear about them. Because rewarding ourselves for making it through the projectile vomit to the shower on the other side is A+ Parenting Today.
