Today has been an extremely hard day to be a mom to my children. There has been a lot of yelling, tears, and hurtful words spread around our house. Regardless to say, I'm tired! Most of all I'm sad. Sad that some of my children have a hard time looking beyond their own opinions and seeing the reason behind the decision. All four of my kids are super different. One is an intellect, who has a hard time fitting in socially but has an awesome sense of humor and loyalty. Another is super social, who often makes decisions on what feels good now; but is kind and determined. Yet another is the life of the party one minute and feels like the world is after another; but she has a great sense of humor and is very supportive. Then of course is the stubborn, funny, grumpy, happy, loving, angry, talented, smart little pea we seem to all stop and cheer for.
The hard thing is it seems no one is cheering for anyone but Sadie. Not even cheering for themselves. There are enough people out in the world who want to be better than everyone else... why can't we as a family enjoy each other's accomplishments and look past the other's faults?
If there is one thing I know about parenting my four very different children is that there is no ONE way to parent them. There are at least a half of dozen. Sometimes the "spirit of the law" is more important than the "letter of the law" and what some would consider "rewarding a bad behavior" I would say is making a compromise and picking my battles.
Parenting is one of the hardest things I have ever done.. harder than being Primary President four times, Young Women's President at 19, getting married when I was still a teenager, or caring for a very sick baby. At the end of the day, I hope my kids can forgive me for my short temper, accept my apologizes, trust I know what I am doing, and understand I love them. In return.... I will try to look past the broken door jam, messy floor, and missed dance class!
5 comments:
I seemed to have misplaced my manual on how to raise five very different children, all with very different personalities or I would let you borrow it.. I think the hardest thus far for me is my daughter who reminds me the most of myself, boy do we butt heads sometimes... its ok to rant, its ok to say you hope your doing a good job.. I think ya are :)
Sigh...You know what...Today I feel like a horrible mommy too....Homeschooling Kallie some days is VERY challenging! Today, was one of those days! So I can feel your pain! It's hard being a mom and always keeping your cool! Hugs for your honesty! : )
we have this days too.... but usaully tomorrow is a better day. hang in there honey!
It's what I call "August Syndrome." Every August my kids turn into monsters and I lose all ability or motivation to do anything about it. Part of it, I'm sure, is because schedules and the resulting scripture reading and family prayer have all but vanished from our routine. I love when school starts and we get to start all over. Your description of your girls' personalities reminds me of me and my 3 sisters. We cover all the personality types: red, blue, white and yellow. Amazing that we can be so different, but still love each other so much. Hang in there!
At the end of the day it only matters that they love being home. My child who is gone has said it was safe to fight at home because we had to let her back in after the fight. ( friends don't have to let you back in) when they point out the differences in raising/disciplining them I point out when they got the "special"treatment. I just try to remember to laugh. I was that teenager and somehow I became a decent adult. they will too. I just push liking each other at the end of the day. Good luck it is a long road.. but soon they will all be gone and you will hang out in the Young Womens room to hear all those sounds again. Hugs friend
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