Endless worry, planning, care and love goes into parenting everyday but don’t be fooled, we will fail our children somewhere. As I sit around and talk to other parents the lists of concerns could suck the air from a room, but you cant tell me that our parents didn’t do the same things. And somewhere, sometime in our lives we have hated our parents, said terrible things and swore we would never do this to our own children but odds are we will.
As we navigate these waters of child raising there is no way we will get it all right and that is OK. We have to remember that we are humans and we are making the best decisions we can for our families at the time. You can look back with different eyes and see where situations could have been handled better but in that moment you took the route you thought was best. It will not be perfect every time but all you can do is give yourself the room to let it go.
Parenting sort of feels like a standardized test, that you take everyday without studying for 18 plus years. If you think you will fill in every bubble with the right answer you are nutty or you should write a book!
Just know that they will grow up, probably just like you, going from loving to hating you in the blink of an eye. Being the sweetest human on the planet after just flailing on the floor like a demon child like that is a normal Tuesday. Open your heart, share your stories, listen to other people and just know that you are doing the best you can right now, today and everyday.
This was such a timely post for me! I just had a bit of a breakdown last night and told my husband that I’m failing as a mom. Thanks for writing this!