Recently, our eldest child said to me, 鈥淚 worry that I鈥檓 not a good parent.鈥�
I suspect that other mothers live with this concern so I will, at the risk of losing any respect I may have had, share what I did with my daughter that day.
When she was just a new baby I 鈥渞an out to get a few things鈥� while leaving her, sleeping alone, at home. Yes 鈥� I completely forgot my child鈥攗ntil I was almost parked at the grocery store. I glanced at the passenger seat, which was void of the carseat we were then allowed to keep beside us, and gasped. As I whipped the car around and raced toward home, visions of a house fire played in my head. Fortunately, I found her still asleep and in complete newborn oblivion of what a dunce her mother was.
Around that time, I dumped that same child out of her carseat, which I鈥檇 tried to balance on my hip while trying to multi-task. (Back then our babies were simply plunked into a bucket and the vehicle鈥檚 seatbelt was considered safe enough.) Thankfully, she was bundled in a thick, puffy snowsuit when she tumbled down our outdoor cement steps. Of course I dropped the empty plastic seat and chased her to the bottom. After examining every inch of that poor child, and feeling satisfied that she鈥檇 survive, I then empty-promised her that I鈥檇 become a better mother.
Unfortunately 鈥�
My two girls will never forget the day I handed them both a knife saying, 鈥淢ay the better person win.鈥� In my defence to that rash decision, they fought a lot as young teens and I thought they both needed a wake-up call. This backfired on me, however, when instead of dropping their weapons and hugging one another with renewed love (as I鈥檇 planned) they both looked at me as if I鈥檇 lost my mind. 鈥橳is arguable.
In case I hadn鈥檛 helped her feel better about her parenting until that point, I reminded my very soft-hearted daughter about the time I slapped her across the face to stop one of her fourteen-year-old rants. After the smack she was quiet for only a split second before she yelled, 鈥淚鈥檓 calling Social Services!鈥� I then did the only thing I thought reasonable. I calmly went to the kitchen, found a phone book, circled my best guess at a number for that organization and handed it to her. 鈥淕o ahead!鈥� I said right back. 鈥淪ee if anyone likes you more than I do!鈥�
We can laugh about it now and she says she deserved that but I beg to differ. That, among many others, was not one of my more stellar 鈥渕om-moments鈥� and I know it.
So, if you鈥檙e feeling as my daughter does at times鈥攖hat you鈥檙e not a good enough parent鈥攔ead this again. Help is on the way for Mother鈥檚 Day too! To be continued 鈥�
听
