Parenting

Lately I have been feeling out of sorts as a parent. I was snapping at my kids, yelling, and generally just feeling frustrated with everything. After some soul searching, I realized that there was a disconnect among the parent I wanted to be, the parent my children need, and the parent other people think I should be.

There are so many great ideas out there on how to be a "good" parent and it is easy for me to try to integrate all of them into my life, despite what my children actually need or what really works for my family. Plus, the things that come naturally to me as a person aren't necessarily what my children need from me. I've had to work on focusing on their needs and stepping out of my comfort zone. I've also had to give up on some things that just weren't working for us, despite how wonderful they sounded in a book or on a blog.

But I still feel like I could be doing so much better. I would love to be a calm, super-confident mother who never yells and whose children always do as she asks. But I guess that's not realistic, and when I think it should be is when I get into trouble. Still, there is so much room for improvement. For now, I am planning on doing my best to see the positives in my children and the way that I mother them. I am hoping to be patient with myself, but also hold myself to certain standards in my interactions with my children. Because I think they deserve a mom who is patient and kind and loving, and does her very best to teach them about this great big world and their place in it. Because they really are wonderful little people. And I'm a "good" mama.