Looking good as a home school mom

Do other mothers worry like I do when out in public?

Edmund happy to use the store’s half shopping cart/half stroller as his personal play toy. Peter chases after Lucy among the racks. Susan laughs at it all. On this Saturday morning, mine the noisiest kids in the uncrowded store. It’s a happy cavorting. Nothing broken, a blouse falling off a hanger quickly set right by Peter.

Yet I wonder.

What does the sales lady think? She’s older, probably a grandmother. I see no eye rolling, no set mouth in a firm line because my gang carouses among the sale blouses. I wish I could read the clerk’s mind.

The mother with only two children following like puddle ducks behind her, I wonder what she thinks of my traveling circus. I hear her scold her boy - he must be about five. Does she cringe at her children’s behavior as she shops?

Am I so sensitive because I feel we need to look good as a home school family?

Am I worried because I want to look good as a mom? As a home schooling mom?

Yes.

And yes.

So I shop faster.