If you’re like me, then you feel “Mom Guilt.” All. The. Time.
I feel mom guilt over things that don’t even make sense.
The guilt is there for ALL of us- and it’s in all shapes and sizes.
“If I go back to work after I’ve given birth- I don’t spend enough time with my kids.
If I become a stay at home mom- I don’t do “enough” and aren’t a provider for my family.
If I hire a babysitter to have alone time with my spouse- Are the kids ok? Are they going to fall asleep if I’m not there to tuck them in?
One kid is getting more attention than the other.
Dad was up with the baby all night and now he has to go to work all day.
I didn’t play with my kids enough today.
Does our family favor one kid over the other? (NO!)
I caved and gave them what they wanted.
They’re spoiled because of me.
They don’t eat enough.
They eat too much snacks.
They don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables.
My daughter drinks too much milk.
It was nice outside today; I should’ve taken them to the park.
They spend too much time in the house.
I didn’t find time to clean today.
I cleaned the house today, but then scolded my kids for messing it up.
I yell too much.
Am I too hard on them?
I am too overprotective.
I’m too laid back.
I should have handled their tantrum differently.
My kids watch too much TV.
My baby is too young to be in front of the television.
My baby sleeps too much.
My baby doesn’t sleep enough.
My child throws and bites, and that’s my fault.
Was putting my children in public school the right choice?”
You just can’t win.
There’s just no getting over the guilt.
And that’s ok.
You know why?
Because It means we care.
We feel guilty because we care. And we care a lot.
Like a lot a lot.
Life has it’s ways of making some things out to be a bad thing. But what’s so bad about this? Our kids are our whole lives. They mean everything to us. So, it’s ok to worry about your kid is going to grow up to be a serial killer (that’s always in the back of our heads, right?).
As parents, we were given the greatest, but hardest, opportunity of all time: Raising human lives to (hopefully) be educated and have decent morales.
I take pride in this opportunity given to me. I know you do, too.
I will forever worry and feel guilty about my children and my role in their lives.
I will never not wonder “if I did this differently would they have turned out like that?”
And I’m done letting the guilt be the “bad guy,” when it is in fact, the “GOOD guy.”