Do not freak out when you make a mistake. You are a good parent and doing your best. Your best is good enough!
With this being a parenting blog, my posts obviously consist primarily of advice. Advice can be helpful, and that is obviously what you are looking for when you come here, but sometimes you just want to be told you are good enough.
I wanted to take a moment to just encourage without parenting advice added to it.
You are a good parent! I am sure you make mistakes sometimes, because we all do. I am sure you can look back on some things and realize you probably should have done things differently because we all do that, too. That just makes you normal.
You are doing the best you can do. The best you can do is good enough! If it wasn’t, babies wouldn’t be raised by humans (that reminds me of that movie–Mars Needs Moms–they raise their babies with robots on Mars…). I don’t want to oversimplify things, but we have all been raised by imperfect people and the human race manages to press forward.
In the end, no matter how hard you try and how much effort you put in, you will have days when you have that kid the grocery store. You will have times you have that kid when you are trying to leave the park. I don’t say that to discourage you, but to encourage you that when the moment happens that you have that kid, it doesn’t mean you haven’t done a great job!
If you need some “pats on the back” and encouragement, see thee posts:
- Not Pinterest Worth, but Child Worthy
- How To Enjoy Motherhood More Thoroughly
- Motherhood Reality Check
- Positive Attitude Makes All the Difference
- Slow the Pace
- It’s a Journey, Not a Destination
- Parenting is All About Perspective
- It Happens (sometimes things just go wrong)
- I Had One of “Those” Moments
- Mistakes: Golden Nuggets of Wisdom
Love it, Val! And so true. It is something us Type A mothers who always think we can "do more" and "do it better" need to hear. Thanks.
Hi Valerie! I was wondering: We are just starting to try the 4 Ss with our 13 week old. After being swaddled she seems to spend her whole time struggling to get out of it, so when we're at the just sitting point, she is crying her way through it.Is this normal? And do I keep trying?It's only been a few days. Or does this mean we should look at not swaddling her? She fights it hard enough that there are now two holes along the seam lines where her hands are. One hole on each side….Thank you!
Totally needed this post today on a big Mommy Failure Day! Your timing couldn't have been more perfect!
Thanks for the reminder. I had "that" kid at the park today. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this post! I enjoyed reading it. I make mistakes in parenting even more than most moms do–I think. Sometimes it's hard to digest when I tell myself that I'm a good parent. But thank you for this. Thank you very much. 🙂