In order to be a half way decent Mom/Wife, I have realized that it is imperative that you learn the art of ignoring.  Sounds really harsh, doesn’t it?  But I really don’t know how to be a good Mom and Wife without this critical skill.  In fact, I am quite certain that, without this skill, I would not make it through the day without going certifiably crazy.  For example:

When my son whines, “Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooommyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!”  I ignore him.

When my oldest daughter hops off the bus with an attitude “just because.”  I ignore her.

When I am in line at the grocery store by myself, the only 2 minutes that I have to myself all day, and someone from my kid’s school sees me, I unapologetically bury my face in an US weekly and ignore them!

When my younger daughter shows the early signs of outfitdismorphia (defined as the contempt of any and all clothes that I have laid out for her to wear), I ignore her.

When my husband turns up his nose at the brown rice and quinoa pilaf that I lovingly prepared, I ignore him.

See?!  There are lots of occasions each and every day that the art of ignoring helps to keep our house a more peaceful place to live because if I reacted to all of these incidents, I would spend my whole day with a major ‘tude, and that is just no way to live.

Don’t get me wrong.  The art of ignoring has taken me a while to perfect.  When I had my first baby, I was unable to ignore every whimper, cry, coo, gurgle.  Any noise or sound she made, and I was on it.   And, because I am generally reactive when I see something wrong or know that someone needs something, I feel compelled to rise to the occasion and help.   But, over the past 8 years of Motherhood, I have realized that if I don’t ignore certain things I will go off the proverbial deep end.  Gushing blood, a concussion, violent convulsions — I would never ignore.   But, everything else is pretty much fair game.  I now know what they mean when people say, “Ignorance is bliss.”