[caption id="attachment_747" align="alignnone" 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]

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."

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]
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