By Ginger Jones
Unless you’ve been living under a rock since blogging, Google and social media came onto the scene, then you’re probably all too familiar with all the mistakes you can make as a mom. New mom, working mom, mom of an only child, single mom...you name it, there are so many ways we can find how any of us can mistakenly ruin our children for life. Nothing brings out the judgy side of people like a good ‘ole debate on sleep training, discipline or the eating habits of children. So, how about a twist on all the regular “mistakes moms make” articles. I don’t know about you, but I could stand to let myself off the hook every now and then. So here are mom mistakes I think it is okay to make.
1- Worrying when you know you shouldn’t. So, we worry. It’s just what mom’s do. I am not saying that you should worry about every little thing, but if you find yourself stressed over something now and then, know it is normal. Nothing makes us question ourselves and our abilities like motherhood.
2 - Losing your cool in front of your kids. You are human. It happens. Of course, it’s not something we set out to do, but given a crazy day at work, a broken washing machine, getting stuck in traffic, coming home to fighting children and milk spilled on the floor, you would have to muster a lot of zen to not be a little agitated. It’s ok. Just take a deep breath, apologize for losing it, and then think about some ways you can prevent those small life stressors from piling up and making you crazy the next time.
3 - Overscheduling or underscheduling your child. As your child gets to the age where he can participate in extracurricular activities, it can be overwhelming to know which ones. Your overzealousness may result in signing up for more than you realized. Alternatively, I know plenty of well-adjusted adults who didn’t play a sport or have any organized activity during school. Give yourself time to find out what works for your child and your family.
4 - Being overly focused on consequences. This one is especially for moms of toddlers and young kids. When your children first start showing signs of gaining their independence, it can be maddening. And the mom frustration grows the more strong-willed your child is. When you first begin to implement behavior management strategies, it is easy to focus more on the negative consequences before you learn the delicate dance of positive and negative reinforcement and what level of those work for your child.
There is no such thing as a perfect mom, no matter how much we strive to be. Perfect parenting isn’t real parenting. We will all make mistakes (and probably beat ourselves up about it too much). How about we learn to learn from those mistakes quickly, give ourselves some much-deserved grace and get onto the business of loving our kids and loving ourselves well. Let’s face it; making mistakes doesn’t make you a bad parent; it makes you normal.
I would love to follow along on your journey on social media, where we can share our crazy #momlife moments. My instagram is @gingerjones and I look forward to meeting you!
