Many mothers, and some fathers, have shared with me their insecurities about parenting. The question that always comes up is,
“But am I doing this parenting thing right? Am I really a good parent?”
I don’t think that there is one right way to parent and sometimes we are great at parenting and sometimes we have really bad days.
But I think one of our biggest problems is that we usually focus on the things we don’t do for our kids:
“I forgot to send a fruit with his lunch.”
“I didn’t make him his favorite dessert.”
“I didn’t sit with him at bedtime.”
“I didn’t fold the laundry and she has to rummage through the bin to get her socks for school!”
“I forgot to give a dose of antibiotics.”
This makes us feel so bad about our parenting. A domino effect comes into play. We focus on what we don’t do for our kids, we feel inadequate and insecure, we get into a bad mood, and then we take it out on our kids…sound familiar?
The antidote is to look at all the simple things that we already do for our kids and keep our attitude positive and upbeat. We need to give ourselves breaks, forgive ourselves for our mistakes and move on.
What are some of the simple things that we already do for our kids that make us good parents?
- Hugs and kisses
- Kissing their boo boos
- Playing peek a boo
- Cheering them on when they learn to walk
- Taking them to the park
- Feeding them
- Bathing them
- Waking them up for school with a smile
- Tucking them in at night
- Making them brush their teeth
- Loving your spouse
- Doing the laundry
- Celebrating their birthdays
- Listening to them tell a story
- Laughing at their jokes
- Watching movies with them
The list can go on and on…
And instead of beating ourselves up about what we didn’t do:
“I forgot to send a fruit with his lunch.”
“I didn’t make him his favorite dessert.”
“I didn’t sit with him at bedtime.”
“I didn’t fold the laundry and she has to rummage through the bin to get her socks for school!”
“I forgot to give a dose of antibiotics.”
Focus on what we did do:
“I sent him lunch.”
“I made dessert.”
“I tucked him into bed. Last night, I had time to sit with him and tomorrow night I will make sure to do that.”
“I did the laundry. Her socks were clean.”
“I took him to the doctor when he was sick.”
You get the point.
So from this day forward, let’s focus on what we do right instead of what we do wrong. We will all be much happier!
The words of this author reflect his/her own opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Orthodox Union.