I hardly ever do memes, and I never get tagged for them, and I sure as heck have never started one. But I had this idea, an idea for a post, and I thought that it would be a fun 'audience participation' game. And isn't that what a meme is after all?
So, here we go...
What do you do, as a parent, that you are pretty sure qualifies you as a bad mom? You know, those little things you'd never admit to in public; those things you wish you didn't do, or did better, but you do and you don't. I'll go first:
1. I overcompensate. Horribly. I came from a very abusive home. We were also members of one of the more fun Christian wanna-be cults. I missed out on a lot growing up, and I constantly try to make up for that with my own children. For example; I wasn't allowed to celebrate my birthdays as a child, and so, of course, my children have the most disgusting, grandeous sorts of parties now. My 9 year old is getting a limo ride for his 10th birthday. A LIMO. I have been in a limo once in my whole life, and it was to a Def Leppard concert. Me? Overcompensating.
2. If my children get hurt while throwing a temper tantrum, I don't comfort them. This is one of those things that my head tells me is right but my heart wants to beat me up for. I think that if they decide to flail around the floor for no good reason whatsoever, and that if they then whack their head on the floor while doing it, then, well, they got the consequence that came with their actions and who I am to stop it? I'm not talking about MAJOR injuries here. I'm talking about preventable boo-boos.
3. I think candy should be a food group. I really wish we had a candy-free home, I REALLY do. When it comes down to it, though, kids are kids and kids like candy. I try to integrate it into the day as much as possible in hopes of teaching them moderation. That anything is ok, moderately. All I am really doing it paying for my dentist's summer house, and I know that logically, but I'm trying to pick my battles here.
4. I do their homework. Ok, that is an overstatement. I help them too much with their projects, though. I really, really loved doing school projects and my sons are now at the fun age where the cool projects get assigned; the science projects and the research projects. My childhood nerdiness combined with my adult craftiness make me totally incapable of not sticking my big old nose right in the middle of their work. I am teaching them not one good thing by doing this, and am probably creating more of a problem for myself down the road than I could ever imagine, but atoms made out of gumdrops are AWESOME AWESOMENESS.
5. I am forcing my daughter to grow up too fast. My boys are 9 and 7, and my daughter is 2. We were not expecting her. We were expecting vacations and a new car. We were so very far from baby phase that we couldn't even see it, and then I fell pregnant. I was 4 months pregnant when it even occurred to us that we'd have to change a diaper again. We were THAT removed from it. My sons, even though I hate it, choose their own clothes and fix their own breakfasts and wash their own laundry. And sometimes, in all honesty, sometimes I just plain forget about the diaper. I forget that she won't go potty by herself just yet. Sometimes, I get all the way down to the very last onesie before I remember that this baby isn't going to throw her clothes in the washer, that I have to do it. She's never fallen down the stairs, she's been eating with a fork since she was 6 months old, she can put on and buckle her very own shoes, ON THE RIGHT FEET, and I know that all of this is happening so fast because it has to. She is living in a house that is not in baby mode. In some ways, I think she will totally benefit from being the youngest by a lot, from having two very big brothers to look up to and learn from, but in many ways I feel like she is missing out on something her brothers had, and I feel overwhemling guilt about that.
There's more, I'm sure, but 5 is plenty for one night. I would love to hear your thoughts!
