Kara Lewis Newton isn’t a Pinterest-perfect mom, and she’s totally OK with that. “Chopped celery. That’s what I’m driving to my son’s school today. Why? Because I don’t look in his folder,” the mom of Silas, 11, Lila, 10, and Jack, 6, wrote in a November 21 Facebook post that has since gone viral. “I missed that he needed to bring chopped celery to school today, and I have no idea why he needs it, but he does. So I’m driving it to him praying that he gets it on time.”
The 35-year-old from Fishers, Indiana, then went on to list some other slipups. “I miss things,” she admitted. “My kids don’t always have clean socks. We ate at Wendy’s last night. I forget to RSVP to parties. We never have cash when we need it. My kid doesn’t always have his coat. There might be Halloween candy in their lunches. I sign without reading sometimes. And I don’t always check my kids’ folders.”
But Lewis Newton refuses to make any apologies. “I’m banking on the fact that 20 years from now, they won’t remember that their mom forgot the chopped celery,” she wrote. “I am praying that they remember how hard I fought for them every day to have a good life … one where they know they are fiercely loved no matter what.”
Her message received 99,000 likes, more than than 32,000 shares and more than 2,000 comments after it was shared on the Love What Matters Facebook page on November 25.
“In a world of social media where everyone posts the highs of their day, we are often left feeling like we don’t measure up,” the Kara’s Beauty Base owner tells Us Weekly of her candid post. “Sometimes we just need to know we aren’t alone!”
Other reasons to love Lewis Newton? “I let them watch more TV than I should. I don’t order my kids’ sports photos. We give lots of birthday gift cards because I forget to go out and get presents,” she tells Us. “I have put orange juice in my kids’ cereal because there’s no milk in the house. Luke once went to school in a bathing suit and swim shirt because I just told him to find something that matched!”
