Over and over, while my children were growing up, I told them "Nobody gets to be perfect."  When I made mistakes, I would own up to them, apologize and say, "Nobody gets to be perfect.  Not even your Mama. Only Jesus got to be perfect."

[caption id="attachment_747" align="aligncenter" width="475" caption="Benjamin with Jonathan on the day of Jonathan&#39;s birth."]<a href="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/BenjJonfeatured.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-747 " title="BenjJonfeatured" src="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/BenjJonfeatured.jpg" alt="" width="475" height="256" /></a>[/caption]

When their friends would do or say unkind things, I would explain that "Nobody gets to be perfect, not even your best friend." And I would urge them to forgive and go on with the friendship.

When they made mistakes and felt stupid, I would reassure them, "Nobody gets to be perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. Don't be so hard on yourself."And I would encourage them to admit their mistake, ask for forgiveness where needed, and to forgive themselves.

In light of "Nobody gets to be perfect:" I am admitting two mistakes in my last blog post.  First, I included baby photos of my first four babies, as a part of telling the lead-up to Benjamin's birth.  And while I included a photo of Jonathan (our fifth child) with his older brother Benjamin, I did NOT include a cute baby photo.

[caption id="attachment_1142" align="aligncenter" width="355" caption="Jonathan, our fifth child, born 3 1/2 years after Benjamin. He is three months old in this photo - 23 years old now."]<a href="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Jon3-mo.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1142" title="Jon3 mo" src="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Jon3-mo.jpg" alt="" width="355" height="533" /></a>[/caption]
<p style="text-align: left;">And, in the last blog post, I was wrong about the dress code days at Lewis Academy. Benjamin dressed in dress shirts and ties on Mondays and Fridays, and added a suit coat to that on Wednesdays.  But Tuesday and Thursdays were "casual" days.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Please forgive me for my mistake. After all, nobody gets to be perfect.</p>