Pretty much every parent I know has felt a twinge of “mom guilt” occasionally (okay fine, daily).
Maybe you needed some quiet time so desperately that you set the clocks forward and announced bedtime two hours early. Maybe you forgot to pick your kid up from practice after school (“But soccer is on Tuesdays. WHAT DO YOU MEAN TODAY IS TUESDAY?”), or you skipped way ahead in a book because listening to a kindergartener painstakingly sound out e-v-e-r-y s-i-n-g-l-e l-e-t-t-e-r as they learn to read is scientifically proven to be fifty times more painful than being mauled by a herd of bears.
We’ve all been there.
When Melissa Radke, writer and mom of two, felt the guilt creeping in, she let her kids fall asleep in her bed. Then she created a video to confess her parenting “sins,” but she did so in the only way possible with children asleep in the room—she made signs. Hilarious, hilarious signs. So why does she feel so guilty?
“Because I’ve missed my daughter’s last 2 dentist appts…but I’ve missed 0 of my hair appts.”
“Because my son’s lunchkit today consisted of 2 bags of Cool Ranch Doritos, a boiled egg and a pickle…And a Coke.”
“Because my family went 3 days with NO TOILET PAPER. (We used Kleenex.)”
If for some reason you can’t relate to that list, you’ll surely relate to the list that follows of things she can’t do, like breathing or moving or crying, for fear of waking her kids up. Because no matter how bad mom guilt gets, it’s never quite so bad that you want the kids to wake up so you can take another crack at parenting.
What parenting sins are you guilty of lately?
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