Parenting is HARD

Let me start off this blog by saying I absolutely love my children. The good days way outnumber the bad days, but man sometimes those bad days can be rough.

I just want all my fellow mommas to know that parenting is hard... like really hard. I need you to know that you are not alone. 

I’ve said this before, that social media often allows us to see the “perfect” side of our lives. We post all the cute and fun things our kids do. But please know this is not real life. Kids are kids and there are times they are DIFFICULT!

Let me tell you about last weekend. My dad came to town to help with the kids while my husband and I were at the overnight field trip for my school. (Yes, I make my husband come as a chaperone because we are always short on male chaperones) Disney on Ice also happened to be in town that weekend. So I figured this could be fun, let’s take the family!

Flash forward to Saturday. Our 4 year was awful. Like downright awful. She talked back like she was a teenager. She hit her brother and myself. She did not listen worth a dime. She spent time in timeout. She was required to have quiet time and was encouraged to take a nap so she would be in a good mood. I threatened to not take her to the show. Nothing worked.

I was caught in a tough place that so many parents get stuck in. Do I seriously not take her to the show and waste the insane amount of money that tickets cost to make a point that she was not good? Do some of us still go to make it worth it? If we don’t go, would she even understand the consequence and would it change her behavior?

I seriously did not know what to do. So it was about an hour before we needed to leave and I decided to take a moment and have a heart to heart with her. We talked about her behavior and how I didn’t want her to go. So I decided that if she wanted to go she had to do some chores to earn her way. She picked up her room. She helped put her clothes away from the dryer. She had to have no more issues from then until we left.

Well it happened. She turned it around somehow. We went to the show. I actually think she really enjoyed and I’m glad we went, but deep down I was still questioning my parenting. Should we have gone to the show? At what point do I stop threatening and start acting?

I’m not sure my decision was the best, but we went and spent way too much money on snacks, but we had fun. 

Parenting is full of hard decisions. However, we have to realize that we have to do what we feel is best. We can’t second guess our decisions, we have to own it.

Our daughter keeps us on our toes. I’m sure this will not be the last post that will be about her. Especially as we transition from four to five.