Tuesday, June 11, 2013

My Wishy-Washy Parenting

 I never thought I would be that mom. You know her. The mom that lets her kids stay attached to her side, let's them sleep in her bed, is sometimes a pushover when it comes to punishment. Maybe you are her and that's ok. I just never thought I'd be her.
I had visions of how I'd be when I became a mother. Those visions stayed true during most of Petey's baby-hood. I was not going to veer from my motherhood beliefs no matter what.

{Ha!}

And then one day, I had a sick child and I let that sick child sleep in my bed.

And I liked it.
 And another time, a scared little girl had a bad dream and how could my heart say no to comforting her the rest of the night?

As my kids have gotten older, I've realized that there is no one way to parent. I try not to judge the mothers that are strict and I try not to judge the mothers that are pushovers...because I am both.
 It's sometimes hard to make that split-second decision to figure out what my children need at that particular moment. Sometimes, they need strict and sometimes, when they do something wrong, they just need a hug. I try so hard to get it right each time but that doesn't always happen.
 I already know I'm not the ideal mother in the world's view. My kids eat processed foods all of the time. Playing on the floor with my children doesn't always come easy to me. Heaven forbid there be any yelling in our home---sorry, but there is. I also know that I have to work hard each day and pay attention to what my children need.
 Sometimes, it might look like my parenting skills are wishy-washy but I promise, I'm doing my best. I know these two beautiful babies better than anyone and I try to make the best decisions for them.
Parenting is a hard job and it requires a thousand tiny decisions on my part each day. As long as I know in my heart that I'm trying my best, I feel like I'm accomplishing something great here. I'm influencing some of the cutest kids on this earth and I feel so lucky to be doing so.

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