I am human. I make mistakes. Being a perfectionist, this is something I truly fight against. No mother wants to admit that she’s made mistakes with her children, but we all have. There are always those moments that you wish you could take back, that you wish you could have done just a little bit differently. The trick is not to beat yourself up about it and realize that it’s ok to make mistakes sometimes.
I was having a rather stressful day a few months ago. I had a million things to do with school, I had a lesson to prepare for work, I had errands to run, and a baby tugging on me the whole way, typical day for most mothers. I was on my way to the bank, less than a mile from our house. I hopped in the car, Logan hopped in the back seat and off I went. When we got to the bank the back door popped open and there was Logan. I had forgotten to buckle him in his car seat! One of those “mommy moments” you wish you could forget. I was hysterical, what if something had happened to him! I beat myself up over it all night long and wouldn’t let him out of my sight. I felt like the worst mother in the world, even though nothing had actually happened. I knew that if something had, I would never forgive myself. I kept feeling horrible about it until one of my friends told me her own “mommy horror stories.” It made me realize, it’s ok to make mistakes. They happen, you just move forward and make sure they don’t happen again.
You aren’t born knowing how to be a parent. It is something you have to learn as you go and it is constantly changing among your children. No two children are alike and you parent them differently based on their individual needs. You are bound to make a mistake here and there along the way, what matters is that you learn and grow from it.
What matters most is that you are constantly striving to be a better parent for your children, especially in situations of divorce when they need you so much. You have to be their rock. While everything in their little lives is changing, you remain the same. You love them and care for them, you do everything in your power to give them that stability they crave. You make sacrifices and try to be the best parent that you can be. You are bound to make a mistake here and there, it is only natural, but don’t dwell on the mistakes. Learn from them and focus on the positive things you are doing for your children. You are only human and happen to be doing the most trying job known to mankind. It’s ok to make mistakes along the way, it just makes the journey more interesting.