I read somewhere once that we are all the best parents in the world ... before we have kids. All the things we said we would never, ever do when we became parents were said with such ease as if parenting was a simple thing. Oh what little we knew then! Once you become a parent, your eyes are opened wide ... with a can opener and sometimes it even feels like they are popping out of your head. Things you said you would never do are sometimes done. And that's because never is just a bad, bad word in this case.
Still, even the parents who do the things on that mythical "never do" list can be the best parents in the world. Oh yes we can! We do what we have to do, we make things work how they should work for our family, and that's the reality. Before I had kids I swore I would never do a lot of things. Here's my confessional. Maybe you can relate.
I swore I would never ...
... let them watch TV or be kids who requested different shows. They watch it. They love it. They ask for Peppa and Diego and Elmo. They don't watch it all the time. But they watch.
... feed them anything that was frozen like chicken nuggets or fish sticks or mini pizzas. Sometimes convenience wins.
... let them be the boss of me. Sometimes they are. And I think that's okay. Not to the point where it's out of control, but there are times where I cave and let them have their way ... within reason.
... buy them the ridiculous toy they don't need but decide they have to have in the store.
... use bribery to get them to do something.
... put my child on a leash. I tried it twice. It wasn't for us, but I understand how it works to keep kids safe.
... let my kids act like THAT ... when seeing a child have a meltdown. Of course this was before I had kids and was enlightened to the fact that THAT just happens sometimes.
... co-sleep. Now I love snuggling with my babies.
... wear flats. I'm a heels wearing girl. But I just can't do it all the time at the playground. Most of the time I'm in sensible wedges, but I do own some flats much to the horror of my former self.
... change. For some reason I thought change was bad. I know now that's it's not. I've changed in some of the most amazing ways possible and I owe a lot of it to motherhood.
Any of these sound familiar? Have any to add?
Image via khrawlings/Flickr
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Comments 37
Lets see;
I swore up and down that I'd never yell or spank, I try not to spank, but I yell, sometimes it seems like the only thing that gets my point across.
The TV thing, yeah... In order for me to get anything done during the day, I have to have a few good movies and a working tv.
No having my kids help me clean house, Yeah, they're now learning it's nice to help Mom clean up their messes otherwise they're losing stuff.
Oh, and I always insisted I was going to replace a mini-van with a Ford F350 extended cab with dually's. LMBO Yeah, that's not gonna happen, I'm in the process of getting a van now, not only are vans more fuel efficient, I honestly don't think I could drive that big of a truck.
I still swear up and down that I'll never drink, I had alcoholic parents and I'm not going there, I will not send my kids to bed without dinner, I worry too much about their health as it is.