What kind of a mom?

I was thinking about this question the last few days... I think it started when someone commented I'm a fun mom or something like that. My first reaction was I am? Then I was thinking, maybe I am. :)

The reason I was little surprised is because when I studied abroad in Japan, I lived with this host family and in contrast with with my friend's host family, my friend's host family seemed more fun! My host family was matched up to my interests at the time. My host mom was very dutiful as a mom and wife. She kept her house (very) clean, always cooked nutritious dinner, played piano, had a daily routine for herself and her children and shaped her hair nicely everyday. Her hubby as is customary in Japan, left the house early (before I woke at 7am) and came back about 9pm every night. In Japan, rush hour is at 9pm. So needless to say, he eats dinner after 9pm and they have a little together time, reading newspaper, watching a little TV, talking about each others day. My host mom also spoke English well and since I spoke little Japanese, we pretty much had to communicate in English.

Now my friend who lives just down the street lived with a different host family who I considered at the time, "very fun". They were always on the move, taking my friend to fun places all the time, always had company over and enjoyed having company or drop-ins guests. The hubby worked for a waste management company. I'm not sure what time he left but he always came back on his motorcycle between 4-5pm just in time for dinner and all the company. My friend did remark, however, with all the activities going on, sometimes laundry gets forgotten and he have no clean clothes to wear and have to ask his host mom to do laundry for him. Of course, the house is also pretty messy as it is not easy to balance everything. They have 3 young boys.

They also had cell phone when not many people, not even many people in Japan have it so they appeared very cutting edge to me. At the time, most people in US don't even have pagers yet unless they live CA, they might. That family also had GPS in their car as well when that notion was completely new to me. Now, its a must as I'm bad at directions. They also enjoyed bungee jumping and other thrilling sports. My friend says he tried bungee jumping at their urging and thought he was "going to die". :) But he loved his host family even though he did not speak any Japanese and his host family don't know how to speak English. To see them communicating is just hilarious with lots of hand gestures, drawings, acting out (charades), looking up words in dictionary etc. Just imagine you can't use language to communicate day in and day out and you'll understand what went on in that house. :) this host mom, like many people in Japan dyed her hair. Her hair is more brown than your natural brunette. Both of these moms stayed home with their children. They didn't homeschool but both moms had little one (s) who was not in school yet.

So you see why I was little surprised to be called "fun" mom. I'm not saying my host mom is a not great or not fun or imply she didn't take me to places, its just in comparison, the other mom seemed a lot more "fun" . Fun mom is not the first word that comes to my mind if I were to describe her.

My hubby and I were discussing this and he said, fun mom doesn't mean you had to do thrilling sports nor have people over all the time as I am not that way at all. A lot of the time, I like to do my own thing rather than coordinate with my friends. Sometimes, but not every weekend. And with homeschooling, sometimes I also just need to limit the social activities otherwise not much schooling gets done.

So anyway, I have been thinking more about what kind of mom I am. It'll probably be an evolving role. My house is pretty messy most of the time too and I spend daily cleaning and getting the kids to pick up their stuff but stuff seems to pile up faster than I can clean up. Same goes with cooking + dishes; for me, 3 meals + snacks + cleaning all that up at home is no easy feat. I'm sure all you moms can relate even if you don't have 3 meals/day at home. It's just that I'd rather be reading or something. I do love reading homeschooling books about different methods to teach your children. Or just reading all of your fascinating blogs and check out what other people like to do.

I asked my kids this morning if they think I'm a fun mom. J said yep, because you invented that ball game (with the big yoga ball) with us and you made the wooden horse with us. Uh, daddy made the wooden horse. J says but you wanted to so it was your idea and that was fun. I see. Prime says, yes because you let me sleep with you (after he understood the questions. First he understood it as am I a funny mom? LOL) . Okay, not exactly what I expected but will do. Kids' answers always surprise me. Its fun to see how and what they define as "fun".

Anyways, what kind of mom do you think you are?