Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Confessions from a mom of good intentions

I began my parenting journey with the best of intentions. I was a follower of the attachment parenting method of doing things, learned from reading Dr.Bill Sears' The Baby Book. I wore my babies in slings for a long time, nursed them both past a year, responded to their needs rather than letting them cry. I fed them both baby food I made from organic ingredients. We read, talked and sang to them all the time when they were little.
But somehow I feel like I have fallen off the wagon and am struggling to find my way again. Maybe it was the adjustment from toddler to child. I fumbled with what felt right as a way to parent. The problem hit me like a tonne of bricks yesterday. The Em-ster asked me repeatedly to please take her to the park on the weekend and I kept saying no because I had Things I Needed to Get Done. And she was irritable all day Sunday and I couldn't figure out why. Well I finally clued in on Monday. Why didn't I just stop and take her to the park?? It would've done us both some good getting away from all the Things That Need To Get Done and to actually enjoy that beautiful warm weekend! Some time together to reconnect.
So I apologized and promised we would go this weekend. The lovely thing about children is the chance to try again. They understand about making mistakes and to keep trying.
Thanks be to God!
One of our jobs as parents is to realize our mistakes, own up to them and ask for forgiveness. It teaches our children so much! It's also in our job description to remember we are human and will make mistakes too as moms.
Like we tell our children: mistakes are how we learn :)

No comments:

Post a Comment