I Don't Need Credit

"I give you a lot of credit."

I hear that a lot. When I am out and about running errands, shopping, park-playing, library-ing or basically doing anything with my children. The sight of so many little blonde heads altogether draws a lot of eyes.

Just today, we went to Wal-mart. We passed a woman as we were walking in, and I saw her cursory glance take in all the little bodies (plus an extra that I had picked up for the day, just for good measure), and she shook her head. Another couple stopped to count and then asked, "Five girls?" "This one isn't mine," I replied. (Her dark hair and brown eyes should have given her away! But often my extra head for the day could easily qualify as one of my own.)

The thing is, I don't need credit. It's not a big deal to me to take a gaggle of children lots of places. It simply means they have more fun. Sure, they distract me, and I forget things on my list, or get talked into buying a new brand of cereal. That's really not so bad in the scheme of things.

I don't need credit. I'm just being "Mom."