Have you ever told yourself that when you become a parent you aren’t going to do this, that and the third? I’m more than guilty of it. I didn’t have this huge list of things I wasn’t going to do, but I did have a pretty good Idea of what I’d be like as a parent;
- Calm
- Understanding
- Patient
- Fun
- Easy Going
Just to name a few. For the most part I am very calm, it takes a lot of repeating myself over and over again before I turn into the exorcist.
We have this idea that our kids will be perfect angels at all times, but honestly, were we even that nice to our parents? I like to think I was a good kid, with just a slight attitude, but I’m sure I didn’t have one at the age of 7. That’s a story for another time though!
Anyways, I didn’t feel like motherhood would be as hard as it is and that our parents were just mean. I void to never be the parent that yelled, had to give whoopings and more, but they say, “never say never.”
Here are a few things I said I would never do as a parent, but caught myself doing just that.
- Lose Temper
- Spankings
- Allowing Too Much Screen Time
- Treating To Too Many Sweets
- Using the ‘Because I Said So’ Card
- Not Taking Feelings Into Consideration
- Comparing Our Kids To Others
- Assuming They Are Being Dishonest
- Being Dismissive
I do my best to teach my own child right from wrong, how to think about his actions and how they may make other people feel, but I also have to remind myself that these are actions he needs to see from me. So, when I find myself doing the things I listed above, I have to take a step back.
I hate that as a mother I can be dismissive without even realizing it. I’ve made it a priority to explain myself to my son when I’m acting out of sorts. Many people will use the, “you don’t need to explain yourself to a child,” but honestly we do. Just because they are children it doesn’t mean they don’t have feelings. They have a ton and haven’t fully learned how to deal with them, so it’s best we help them with that, even if we feel we shouldn’t have to.