ALL MOMS ARE SUPERMOMS

Like all six-year-old boys, Professor Bean likes superheroes. He likes to talk about them, pretend to be them, engage in long debates about which superhero’s power is cooler or more powerful than another. Where I have always been partial to Superman (I like my superheroes – and husbands - smart and bespectacled), the Professor’s loyalties rotate between Green Lantern, Batman and Ironman.

I have to admit that I’ve given some thought to what superpowers I’d most like to have. Invisible Woman sounds good for those times I don’t get a chance to take a shower before morning carpool. And a superhero with an extra set of hands is the dream of any mom who has tried to make dinner while soothing a fussy baby, or fold laundry while helping a small child wrestle an impossibly small dress onto a Polly Pocket doll.

I think superheroes and moms have a lot in common. I don’t mean in that “supermom” way that seems to indicate that whichever mom has the most hectic schedule or the longest to-do list but still manages to have well-manicured nails wins. Rather, I maintain every mom is a supermom.

In some of my conversations with Professor Bean about whether Superman can really leap tall buildings in a single bound (apparently he can) and just how Spiderman can swing from building to building (using webs he weaves himself –hmmm), I started thinking about the various superpowers we possess as mothers. The power to heal boo boos with a kiss and a snuggle, the ability to know something is wrong even when a child claims all is well, and the sixth sense that tells you when the silence upstairs makes the subtle shift from peaceful to suspicious.

Each supermom, like each superhero, has her areas of specialty. Some of us are great cooks, some are creative and crafty, others have enviable stores of patience and/or humor. I know – and have great admiration for – many such moms. I have my own areas of power that are well-balanced by those areas where I am less than powerful (I will never achieve a level of true organization and crafts make me break out in nervous sweats - every time). I believe that we are designed as mothers to have the superpowers most needed to be the “supermoms” our own little people need.

There is one superpower – more powerful than all the rest – all of us supermoms possess in abundance. The power to love our children in a way that no one else can love them. The ability to see the unique beauty of our children and – with God’s grace – to help them see that beauty.

I am a supermom. And so are you!

I’d love to hear some bragging right here on my blog – about yourself or another mom. Leave a comment and share with all of us.