Hi. Esther here. You may remember me as the mom who uses the TV as a babysitter (Sometimes. Sometimes, okay? A girl’s gotta make dinner.)

Well, I’m here to spill the beans again. Just in case my first confession wasn’t bad enough, I’m going to admit more painful stuff. You can judge, or laugh (or both), but my hope is that in these confessions you’ll find that you’re not alone.

Maybe your ‘confessions’ are different than mine. Maybe you are doing everything right and this will just make you feel better about yourself. Either way, I hope you enjoy. We all need some encouragement along this journey.

Confession #2: My kid eats Happy Meals

I cringed a little writing that. I always had imagined my children eating grown-up food with us at every meal. I imagined them enjoying salmon and rice, or perhaps some beef bourguignon, or even just lasagna.

Well, my daughter was eating a variety of things, and I’ll admit I was kind of proud. I thought to myself, “See, you just have to start them young, and look, she likes things like smoked gouda cheese. Good job me.”

But then she hit that picky stage. She got a little older, which meant she got her own ideas in her head about what she should and shouldn’t eat.

She likes neat foods, foods that are definable to her. She likes meatballs, chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, hotdogs...kid foods. All those stereotypes are there for a reason.

On days when I’m out and about with her and have no time to prepare lunch when we get home, we get a Happy Meal, and those meals sure live up to their name.

I know McDonald’s doesn’t qualify as “good eats.” But it is something that Simona will eat, and sometimes that counts more than anything else.

I’ve learned that as much as I want Simona to eat and love healthy foods (she does have certain surprising tastes for things like broccoli, asparagus, and green olives), I also love to see her happy.

So I acquiesce more than I probably should, and I share my ice cream or my chocolate covered raisins with her. There’s nothing like seeing that excited look on her face as she chirps “nummy!” and steals all my candy. (kidding)

Before you think that I just give my daughter all the junk food and sweets she wants, I should clarify that I do limit her. I don’t get her Happy Meals every day, or even every week.

I don’t let her eat (or see) the inappropriate amount of sugar that I consume. I recognize that just because something makes her happy doesn’t mean it’s good for her. What I’m saying is that I love sharing those small joys with her - those tasty treats that sometimes just make life good.

One of the best parts about having kids is watching them experience good things for the first time. And I want my daughter to grow up having those happy memories with her.