Okay, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to use the word “shame” since it has such negative and icky connotations, especially since there is a fair amount of humor intended in writing about this topic. I was recently chatting with my kids and they were reminding me of things that I had said and done that were examples of “faulty parenting.” You know, those moments when you say or do the wrong thing and your kids have it to hold over your head FOREVER…
Recently, weary and exhausted from a long week and having to stay up late on a Friday night to wait for my daughter, I said something she (and her friend who was spending the night) will likely cling to for a while. They had been to another friend’s house for DVDs and pizza and had called around ten to tell me they would be home by the midnight curfew. They didn’t get home until after 1PM. I was crabby, exhausted, and in full mom mode when I barked at my daughter: “It’s time you learned that your decisions and your actions affect everyone in the world, everywhere!” Talk about your over-reaction! Of course, I think I was trying to stress to her that she didn’t live in a bubble and her decisions affected other people, but I got a little carried away in my rummy anger.
I shouldn’t even get started on the times I have been late to pick people up from school and soccer practice and all of my excuses for why. There was the time I had to take one child to the urgent care clinic for possible stitches, while another was waiting for me to pick her up at her soccer practice across town. There was the time I had packed the lunches for summer day camp and put them in little paper sacks in the fridge. Unfortunately, I also had some paper sacks of fruit from the farmer’s market folded up in there too and in the rush to get out the door so I could get to work on time, one of my kids grabbed a bag of apricots instead of her lunch and sat crying and dejected during lunch time when she opened her squashed and smooshed bag of apricots instead of a tasty lunch.
I could go on but I’m sure you’ve got some parenting low points of your own. I suppose they serve to keep us humble and remind us all (including our kids) that we parents are only human after all!
Also: How Many Times Have I Been Done?
When Do I Get to Be Smarter Again?
“When I’m a Parent I’ll Never Do That!”