Hey All!
Let’s face it. Being a parent is an all-consuming job. It takes up huge reserves of patience, energy, compassion, understanding, time, and money.
And we do it, day in and day out. Some days we do it because we have to and other days we do it because we want to.
But we do it.
And that deserves credit.
So often, we look to our children’s behavior to determine how we are doing as parents. It’s almost like we have a mental checklist that we need to check off to brand the day a GOOD parenting day.
Did my child tantrum today?
Did my child eat supper nicely?
Did my child share his/her toys?
Did my child listen to me?
And only if we can check off all the boxes do we deserve the title of GOOD PARENTING DAY.
Now, the problem is, we are basing our performance on our children’s actions. We’re saying, if you behave then I am doing an excellent job. And that’s unfair because children will react the way children will react. Some days our children will listen more easily and other days our children will struggle to follow the most basic tasks.
And that doesn’t mean we are failing.
Showing up as parent means the onus is on us to try our best to show up physically and emotionally for our children.
Let me repeat that, the onus is on us.
It is our responsibility to learn and grow and learn and grow and show up to this parenting game every single day. And if you showed up in your fullest capacity today and your child/children still
refused to eat supper
didn’t want a bath
said NO to bedtime
didn’t want to clean up toys
then your child had a hard time today. Maybe your child eventually ended up in the bath and he/she put a few toys away. Or maybe, none of it got done.
Mama, Papa, you did your best. And that deserves a round of applause.
Remember to look inwards to see how your parenting day went.