Jae of Good Enough Mom took time out of her very busy life to be my next… volunteer. Between going to school and raising four kids — one of whom seems to think he no longer needs naps — it’s no wonder she’s exhausted. Who wouldn’t be? Yet Jae still manages to do all that and make time to catch Duran Duran.

So while I had her attention (and while she had some energy) I couldn’t resist the chance to pick her mind:

1. Your blog is entitled “Good Enough Mom.” What inspired that particular name?

A psychology course (I know, imagine that). Overall, I got tired of the Parenting Rat Race (you know competitive motherhood is an Olympic-level sport). I couldn’t provide all the extracurricular things other parents could and felt guilty about pretty much everything.

“Good enough mothering” is a concept that says kids will be perfectly well adjusted if mom/dad isn’t perfect. I wasn’t going to screw them up if I made mistakes.

So it kind of came to be a reminder to myself (and hopefully others) that kids are more resilient than we let ourselves believe. Cereal for dinner every now and then won’t turn them into psychopathic deviants.

2. Mothers often struggle to get their kids to eat vegetables. Confession time: are there any foods you encourage your kids to eat even though you didn’t as a child?

If we’re really confessing, I didn’t eat much variety as a kid. My mom doesn’t like to cook and I inherited that one from her. But we do encourage (okay, force) each of them to try something a few times before making a final decision that they don’t like it.

They’re pretty adventurous overall, but each one has certain foods they just won’t eat (raw onion is a biggie, but I’m with them on that one).

3. You’ve got four kids and you’re about to start homeschooling. Will blogging become more or less important in your life once that starts, and why?

Probably more important. First, it’s just the only real mental release that’s helpful to me. I’ve always been one who needs to get her thoughts out, probably because I’m not a really big talker in every day life. Plus I find that my thought processes tend to be a little out there for some people, so writing tends to allow me to organize it more efficiently.

Mostly I’m just extremely opinionated and figure someone, somewhere might benefit from my own journey. Or at least, I hope so. [Hey, I have! - VK]

4. If you were a “comfort food,” what would you be and why?

Oh, this is a toughie. Probably mashed potatoes – warm, soft, and a little lumpy.

5. With two boys and two girls, you’ve got a pretty good idea of how the sexes differ from birth. If you were going to live a second life at the end of this one, which gender would you choose to be and why?

Wow. I had to think about this one for awhile. I think both get a raw deal in different ways. I think we’re at a point in our culture where being male means you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. That’s unfortunate. Women have made many strides but there are still inequalities that bother me.

If I have to choose, though, I’d still come back as a woman because there is nothing in the world like the experience of feeling your own child move in the womb and I couldn’t swap that for anything.

6. What’s your favorite knock-knock joke?

Knock-knock

Who’s there?

Dishes.

Dishes who?

Dishes me, let me in!

7. Tell us about the strangest thing any one of your kids has brought home.

An emergency room discharge paper with instructions to avoid putting beads up her nose again. [Any advice on how to get this iced tea out of MY nose now? - VK]

8. What’s the best money you’ve ever spent?

Last year we bought season passes to Kings Island for a family Christmas present. Never had to stay long enough to spend money on food or drinks, and the kids loved spending hours in the water park or the rides. Oh yeah – the fact they were exhausted after each trip had no influence on this answer at all.

9. If you HAD to gain 10 pounds what would you choose to eat?

I’m not big on sweets, but have a serious weakness for pasta. Probably some kind of seafood linguine in a white wine sauce. And lots of it.

10. Complete this sentence: “What VK doesn’t know about me is…”.

I’m tri-lingual with no one to practice on.

If you’ve got something to say (and if your blog doesn’t suck), leave me a comment or contact me at VenomousMe at Gmail to be interviewed on ElectricVenom.com