They say there are only two guarantees in life – death and taxes. Well I’d like to add a third. Parents will make mistakes.
This post is actually inspired by fellow blogger katyzzz from MS Paint Art. She has been a faithful reader of my blog and has often commented that she made mistakes as a parent. Which got me thinking – is it possible to escape making mistakes? I don’t think you can.
Like most parents, I carefully think about discipline, rewards, the food my children eat, the amount of television they watch, are they stimulated enough, are they stimulated too much, how much outdoor play they have, how much sleep they have, how much sleep I have, how cranky am I today and the list goes on and on and on.
But no matter how much careful consideration I give the abovementioned I will slip up. I am human – humans are flawed.
But more than that, it is difficult to determine what your children will judge as a mistake on your part – it won’t be evident for a long time to come.
I’ve considered the mistakes I think my parents made with me and I endeavour to not repeat them with my children. But how will I know that my children won’t think that the direction I took wasn’t a mistake? Or find fault with other things I didn’t even consider?.
The truth of the matter is that we don’t know what moments in life our children will remember when they are older – we just won’t know.
So armed with this humbling realisation, there is one thing I can do – the best I can do is do my best. The kids will forgive me, right?
This post was first published on my other Mum’s Word blog “Mistakes Parents Make”
