After nearly 13 years of Catholic school, I thought I was pretty familiar with guilt. Then came motherhood, and it blew anything those nuns could make me feel out of the water. Motherhood is one big guilt trip from the moment you find out you're pregnant (and start worrying about those martinis you knocked back last week) until ... well, I don't think it's ever going to stop.
This month, however, the guilt has been especially high, and now I know why. June is officially "The Crappiest Month When It Comes To ‘Mom Guilt’," or so says Shawna Cohen over at Mommyish. She doesn't have any proof per se, but I think she's onto something. With the end of the school year, and the beginning of summer, the mommy guilt floweth over.
Here are just 20 of the umpteen million things I've felt guilty about this month already ... and the month isn't even halfway over yet.
1. The end-of-year teacher gifts weren't personal enough.
2. I didn't attend my son's final field trip.
3. Damn, I'm bad at laundry. Not one of my son's white uniform shirts is salvageable for next year.
4. I should have volunteered more in my daughter's preschool classroom.
5. I haven't scheduled my children for enough stimulating activities this summer.
6. Oh god, have I've over scheduled my children?
7. They're watching too much television.
8. I have raised my voice/lost it way too many times with them, and they've only been out of school a couple of weeks.
9. I don't play enough with them.
10. I'm not sure when their last baths were. (Chlorine from the pool counts for something, right?)
11. We're eating takeout again!
12. I work too much.
13. I still haven't taught my son how to tie his shoes.
14. They're not getting enough Vitamin D and sunshine.
15. When will I ever learn to apply sunscreen to them EVERYWHERE?
16. We haven't even started all of those summer learning packets the school sent home. I may have lost them.
17. I shouldn't even consider feigning sickness so I can finish "50 Shades of Grey," right?
18. I let them spend too much time on the iPad/iPhone/Wii. Their brains are turning to mush.
19. We're not soaking up enough summer fun and memories; they're childhoods won't be complete!
20. I really spend too much time worrying.
Do you find that guilt runs particularly high this time of the year? What do you feel most guilty about?
Image via durera_toujours/Flickr
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Comments 14
But this time, I think I have to go the other way. I suffer from the mommy guilt in the summer worst of all.
I don't make them "study" in th summer, ever. But in away, that's bad. Because they can only go swimming sooo many times before they're bored. There's really not much else to do around here either. Maybe swim at someone else's house? Haha
So I'm constantly worrying that I should make them study, so they appreciate the fun summer things. Or that I should find better summer fun things for them to do. Or maybe I should force them to sit down, shut up, and watch tv before I lock them in the basement.
*side note: I don't have a basement*
just be sure to take them to the beach, the pool, and the amusement/water park as often as you can. make sure they see fireworks on the 4th of july. let them play in the sprinkler. and make sure they catch lightening bugs. and go on a family vacation if you can afford it. that's what i remember most about my childhood summers. that's what's really important, having fun. don't even worry about the other stuff. summer isn't for learning, it's for fun.
As long as the kids have fun .. let kids be kids