Parenting Sucks

If I could just be a friend to my boys, I know how to do that.

If I could just be  strict parent to my boys, I know how to do that too.

But to find the middle ground? Loving parent with guidelines that stick and life lessons learned?

That’s tough.

Those of you with children older than mine are probably thinking, “This too shall pass. Those boys will be fine, just give it a little time.”

Those of you with children younger than mine may be thinking, “Holy crap, those kids are out of control.  She needs to be MORE of a mother to them. I can’t believe she parents them that way.”

But I think I believe that what my family is experiencing is normal. And I know for sure that I’m a good mother. The stuff I encounter as a mother is the same stuff everyone will encounter.

It’s just a matter of how hard we try to bury it.

So. No one. Will. Know. That we’re not perfect.

I’ll tell you now on the Internet for the whole freakin’ world to see: we’re not perfect here. We’re human. And we love each other. And we all make mistakes.

And we do the best we can.

Really, few people can say with 100% certainty that their child will never make an error in judgement. If most people  say that they can, they’re lying.  Or they’re willing to lie to cover up their child’s mistakes.

And truly, if they never make an error in judgement, will they really learn how to make solid judgements?

If they never make a mistake, will they really be perfect adults?

Is that what we want for them?

I don’t. I want my kids to be human. To make mistakes (hopefully more while they’re young and manageable and less when they’re older and expensive).

I want them to grow up and KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that they have good judgement. And they know it because they’ve experienced BAD judgement and the consequences of it.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.