I'm NOT perfect and I'm OK with it

TRUTH moment:

I'm NOT the perfect MOM. There are days that I do NOT have it all together and wonder "how DID I do IT all before having kids?". I will admit, I've yelled at my kids. I've said and done things that I regret out of anger. I've had parenting FAIL moments. I've had to REMIND myself DAILY that I am HUMAN and that each second GIVEN is a chance to be BETTER.

On the flipside, I've APOLOGIZED to my kids when my actions or words came from anger. I've had to learn how to REACT less and RESPOND more, which isn't easy when your children are saying hurtful things or are doing things that make you upset. I have to remind myself daily to not REACT to these things because my kids' intentions are NOT to make me upset. They are frustrated and angry, and they are dealing with these BIG emotions in a NEGATIVE way. My JOB as a PARENT is to TEACH them POSITIVE ways to handle their frustrations and anger, but FIRST, I need to make sure that I can PRACTICE what I PREACH before EXPECTING it from them. I've had to FORGIVE myself when I felt I was not the BEST version of who I wanted to be for my kids and ME. I've also had to realize that my PERSPECTIVE on certain situations doesn't always align with my children's TRUE INTENTIONS.

I've bought and read more parenting books that you can imagine. I've tried so many theories that I've learned from these parenting authors only to realize that…

Most wrote their books AFTER their children were grown up or

Some NEVER had kids of their own (much less more than one kid at a time or multiples) or

Some ideas MAY work and some may NOT, depending on who YOU are and/or who YOUR kids are.