A frank FYI: The following tale of toughness is a sponsored post for Ziploc® brand and Tough Mudder. All experiences are mine, all opinions are my own.
Up until the other day, I considered myself to be a tough mom. My mom was a tough mom. My grandma was (still is) a tough mom. Child-raising isn’t for the weary, folks. You need rules, regulations and real organization between all the goofy silly crazy fun love. Moms must be resilient. Moms must be bold. Moms must be TOUGH. What did I think was tough? Well…
When someone accidentally pees on the carpet (hello potty-training!) I clean it up without [much of] a complaint. That’s TOUGH.
When it’s time for lunch, everyone’s gotta sit on their [towel-covered] chairs and EAT. No running around giggling under the table… That’s TOUGH.
And if you’re going to walk around the house snacking on something, it’d best be in some kind of bag that doesn’t spill or leak. I don’t have time to pluck dried sticky cranberries that dumped out of a bowl onto the carpet that your sister just accidentally peed on… See, told you… TOUGH.
And I thought I was… But recently spotting a 7-inch lizard in the [indoor] hallway between my kitchen and laundry room sent me into immediate screaming, hyperventilating, panicking and shuddering for being purely grossed out for no mature reason. (You think I’m kidding? My two girls stood in shock staring at me, in princess costumes, asking why I was so scared about a little old critter being inside the house. Because it looks like a snake!!! This happened yesterday.)
So, in an effort to muster my TOUGH self I made a mad dash for the broom closet to sweep the scaly green thing outside like a hero. No broom! My husband took it to the garage last week and hasn’t brought it back yet! Argh! I grabbed another long-stick cleaning tool and started yelling and jabbing the air behind the creature in an effort to drive it outdoors. (I didn’t have the courage to actually sweep it… I freaked it out so much that it slithered under the door to my husband’s home office in an effort to get away from me. Nuts! Be tough. BE TOUGH. I cut through our bathroom that adjoins the hallway and the office, leaped across the room (with long-stick cleaning tool in hand, still yelling and jabbing the air near the rodent), flung open the door to the backyard just steps away from where the slime was clinging to the wall’s baseboards on the floor (really looking like a snake now, with it’s feet hidden under it’s body and tail)…. and finally it scurried outside just after dropping it’s tail from pure fright. (Did you know lizards’ tails detach when they’re in fright or flight mode? Neither did I.)
Screaming violently (with my girls still questioning “Mommy are you ok?” from the kitchen) I slammed the door shut and rolled up the mat to protect our home from further lizard takeover (just in case the little jerk had ideas to sneak in under the door again). I WILL protect my family from you…. amphibian.
My heart pounded. My body shivered. I replayed and relived the horrific scene in my head for hours and hours. Lesson learned: I am actually not as tough as I previously thought. (If it were a snake I’d have passed out cold. Or, I’d have run out of the house, tossed my girls in the car and sped away until my husband returned home. Wimp.)
There’s gotta be a course somewhere that teaches scaredy-moms like me how to deal with these kinds of home situations? Well, actually there is a series of incredible and empowering events that’s a perfect training ground for tough mothers. It’s called Tough Mudder: Obstacle courses designed to test physical strength and mental grit… in the mud. (I’m guessing there might be lizards lurking on the sidelines? Obviously I have not tried one of these challenges…)
So until I actually try one, I will stick to the types of activities that make me feel like a tough mother within the protected sanctuary of my own home. Like, enforcing rules: Pick up your toys…. Don’t harass your sister…. Stop opening and closing that drawer just to drive me crazy. I will also continue to be organized. Eat out of the Ziploc® brand bags with Easy Open Tabs that are color-coded for you, with your name on it, so that no one can argue about who gets to eat what when and how! Enforcing rules is as tough as I’m gonna get. Enforcing rules serves to keep my mind (semi-) sharp. My ability to be tough (and hopefully get tougher) has always started with being organized… and I’m ok with that at this point.
Organization streamlines life. It streamlines my life in a way that makes me feel empowered, smart and tough. And to make tough mothers’ lives easier, Ziploc® brand introduces new Easy Open Tabs, with the same quality expected from Ziploc® brand with an added tab making them easy to grip and easy to open. Available in freezer, storage, sandwich and snack varieties, the Easy Open Tabs feature pink-, blue-, and green-colored designs and can store fruits, meat, craft materials, school supplies and other household items. Consider my girls color-coded in the name of order and organization. LadyP is pink, LilMiss is blue. Done. Don’t question me.
(And who doesn’t appreciate easy-grip-opens when you have tiny hands wanting to open their snackies “without your help mommy!”… you know, to prove how tough they are. Even if they do insist on wearing a bow and a headband against all fashion rules…)
So, in celebration of the launch of Easy Open Tabs, Ziploc® brand is partnering with Tough Mudder (the most challenging event around) to honor moms who are taking on a whole new level of strength: Ziploc® brand and Tough Mudder are forming a Team Tough Mother (made up of national and local influencers who will be present in markets around the country) and highlighting all kinds of tough mothers participating in events throughout the year.
VERY. COOL. (No, I won’t be entering… but I’m working on my skills for next year. Because I’m tough, remember?)
Wanna enter? You can! Check out a complete list of Tough Mudder events at toughmudder.com/events. Just please don’t tell them about me screaming and jabbing at the lizard in my house while you’re conquering the world and crawling through the mud… it’ll ruin my reputation.
HOW DO YOU STAY TOUGH?
