Mom Rant

Being a parent is hard - it is a roller coaster of emotions.

One minute you are laughing and joking. The next you are wiping a kids tears. Or breaking up a fight. Making a lesson out of the events that just happened.

But you are pretty much always tired!

I have been a mom for just over 3 years now. There are many times when I have questioned if I am doing the right thing for me or the kids. But I am sure that has to be normal. Every mom (or dad) questions what they are doing and how they are raising their kids at one point or another.

Some moments are easy. They just flow. Things go good for a while, then it seems like everything just falls apart at the same time. Most of the time you are just left with your head spinning trying to grasp the situation at hand and how it went from laughs and giggles to smacking, yelling and crying.

Usually there is no way to figure out how it goes from good to bad and back again!

There have been numerous times where I have had to remind myself that I am not their friend, I am their mom. I am responsible for how they grow up and how they act in the years to come... Which means that when I say "you will finish your food or you will get nothing else at all the rest of the evening" - I have to stand by what I say. I cannot go back on it. Even though it is hard. I struggle with  feeling like a mean mom - or if I am doing what is right for my kids.

One struggle I have is how to rationalize with a 3 year old... Like just today she started crying and screaming about how she wanted to go home. Which thoroughly confused me since we were home. We had not left yet today. So I told her, "Baby, we are home..." in the most calmest tone I could have with her. But that did not calm her down. At all. She cried and cried -- while in her own room -- about how she wanted to go home. I really did not know what to say to her. And just as soon as she broke down, she was fine again. Which left me so confused and still trying to figure out what happened.

Which brings me back to my point.

Being a parent is hard. You have a roller coaster of emotions. You second guess yourself all the time. You rationalize your parenting style and judge other parents for their decisions.

There will never be a perfect parent. There will never be a perfect way to raise a kid.

However - there are a lot of wrong ways to raise a kid. A lot of ways that people are messing up our future by not disciplining their children and letting them run the household. They do not give rules or expectations to their children. And let them tell them what they want to do all the time. (Which, yes, there is a time and place for that - but it should not be how the house is run...)

So let's just remember that we are all trying. We are all doing what we can to keep our children safe and happy. So do what you can to raise your children to the best you can. But remember, you are not your child's best friend! You are their parent. You set the rules. Not the kid. You tell the kids what they can or cannot do. You do not ask them what they want to do.

Sincerely,
A Mom Trying To Do Her Best