There are a lot of things I do "wrong" as a mom.
There are even more things that I do completely and totally right as a mom. It took me awhile to believe that but I absolutely do. I also don't bother comparing myself anymore. My kids are great. My son, while not always 100% behaved, is really a good little boy. He is friendly. He is kind. He is sensitive. He is polite. And he's learning to share. I have to give my husband some credit on him but seriously, I'm a great mom. My daughter is incredible, too. She's still developing her brutish little personality and I have to take complete and total credit for that!
This I know.
You know what else I know?
There are things I wish I did better.
I wish I cleaned up their toys more and kept the house neater. The house isn't dirty. It's messy.
I wish I had pushed sign language harder with my son. He couldn't communicate for so long and sign could have helped him. He turned out fine, though.
I wish I didn't let them watch TV...or as much TV. I'm actually working on this one. The TV is coming closer to being off more than on.
Finally, the big one. The one that really "inspired" this post. And of course, the back story....
We were out by the blow up pool the other day and my daughter was getting pink. She had been dipped and slathered in 400SPF lotion because her skin is whiter than white thanks to my husband and father's blood, yet it appeared she was still getting red.
She needed a cover-up. A T-shirt.
I ran upstairs to my son's room thinking I would grab one of his shirts because it would cover her more. Plus, how cute is it when a little kid is in a bigger kid's or parent's t-shirt?!?!? Well, I went into his closet and was looking for a t-shirt. I wanted a light colored one, white preferably. I found tons of white shirts. Or shirts that used to be white. Now they are white with brown. Or white with green. Or white with tomato sauce. I grabbed the least viciously stained one and took it down to my daughter.
So, what do I wish I did better?
Stain Management.
I use bleach. I use colorsafe bleach. I use dye free detergent. I have tried everything.
I am not on top of the stains.
The clothes aren't ruined but I hate putting my kids in "dirty" clothes. I need to do laundry more and maybe this summer is the perfect opportunity. Maybe I need to be like Kelly Ripa and carry a tide pen with me. Maybe my kids should just walk around naked and eat naked, then I wouldn't have to worry about them getting crap on their clothes!
I wish my Stain Management skills were more up to snuff. I think I'm going to work on that.
What do you wish you did better? How would you work on it?
Monday, June 9, 2008
Doing It Better
Posted by Unknown at 4:58 PM
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9 comments:
I always thought that putting kids in the bath to eat their meals would be a good idea.
I'm bad at the stains, too.
We're just getting better at TV. It goes off at 9am and doesn't go back on till Dora at 4pm...then it's off again until just about bedtime.
I still wish they didn't watch TV...last night they were singing show tunes in their cribs to each other. It was a reality check :)
I wished I....
omg, are you kidding? I could go on and on about this and create the world's longest post. Perhaps I will.
Phsaw, stains.
I love this post. I love hearing you say you're a really great mom, cuz I'm a really great mom too but I always feel weird saying it.
And cleaning the house. And money. Those are my two things that I need to get better at. Waaaay better.
I wish I was better at keeping a clean house also. And, yep, the tv thing. I was just telling Hubs a coupla days ago that I'm dying to go to Toys R Us to buy them some crafting toys and more books. They need something more creative and stimulating during the day. Also, mealtimes. We don't do the sit down family meal thing (no kitchen table, ya know), but I wish I was better at keeping to a set meal time schedule.
Kudos to you for recognizing your strengths - I think we spend too much time focusing on what we do poorly.
That being said, I have trouble with the stains too... at the rate they outgrow clothes, though, it hasn't been too severe an issue! Summer is a good time to be thinking about starting to feed them naked, though...
Meals seem to be my biggest problem, though. My kids are majorly picky eaters, my husband's rarely home early enough to eat with the kids, and I just can't get motivated to "go all out" often enough. Mealtime sucks. I need a cook.
I can solve your stain management problem--only by dark-colored shirts for your kids.
Every single one of my son's white shirts are stained. I've bleached and bleached. Now I just give up.
There are many things I wish I did better too! I wish I had more patience - been praying for that for years!
Have a good day - Kellan
Every single day I think of what I should/shouldn't be doing and how I'm not living up to my potential as a mother.
Heck, I keep thinking . . . he's alive. He seems happy. He's healthy.
I love him.
I'm pretty darned sure he loves me.
I guess, for now, that'll have to do.
I am just like you....but I have come up with a solution...we tye dye the stained shirts and they become brand new colored shirts!!! voila!!
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