The Lead Essay
Mom Guilt: What It Is and How to Carry It Lighter
Mom guilt is the persistent feeling that whatever you’re doing for your kids, it isn’t enough — and whatever you’re doing for yourself is too much. It shows up as a running commentary: too much screen time, not enough vegetables, too impatient at bath time, too relieved when they finally slept. You can’t fix mom guilt by finally doing everything right, because it isn’t a verdict on your mothering. It’s a feature of caring, miscalibrated. What helps is learning to read it — keeping the rare useful signal, and putting the rest down.