Unnecessary absolutes

As a mother, I often find myself laboring under the weight of self-imposed absolutes. I say self-imposed, because I don't see the mandate in Scripture that my children be engaged in multiple enrichment activities each month, or that we pull off a certain kind of family night weekly, or that I apply to my own life whatever is working for other families, in order for me to be faithful to my call as a mother. Yet somehow, I act as if this were true. When I fall short of the outcome I pictured: a harmonious sit-down dinner, children who cheerfully perform their duties, a home which is company ready regardless...I somehow calculate that I have failed.
The bottom line is this. As a mother, I am called to love, accept, teach, guide and protect my children. To train them in the ways of God. To tend to their basic needs. There are multiple ways to enact this, and it need not befuddle me when other families I respect are going about it in different ways. The same goal will be achieved in different ways by different people.
When I am feeling the panic of my success as a mother hinging on the outcome of a decision of where to enroll them, or who to invite to a birthday party, or where to take the optimal vacation, I need to remember to take a step back, and see if I am laboring under laws I have imposed on myself. By His Spirit, I can discern what is truly essential. And focus my heart and attentions there.