Confession: Ever since I started working, I have become a shit parent. Partly, because I am tired and lazy as hell after work. Partly, because I feel so guilty that I give Taylor whatever she wants. And partly, because I spend all day taking care of other people's children (I work in day care) that I don't have any energy left for taking care of my own. It is especially bad when I am in school because I am so stressed and have even less time.
But I really want to change. I want to be a better, happier mom. I know that most likely I need medication for my mental health issues but since I don't have health insurance at the moment I am just going to have to work around that for now.
I have been spending ALL my free time lately reading positive parenting articles on the internet and half all of the time I end up crying half-way through because I feel so guilty and shitty for not doing these things. I am so glad Taylor is still young enough to not really remember all the times I have been a not so great mama.
Things I will be doing differently:
1. Less technology.
- NO checking tumblr/pintrest while I am with her.
- Less t.v time and more playtime.
2. Waking up earlier. This is going to be a hard one. Especially once I start back at school and wont be getting home until about 11pm. For now my goal is just to wake up 30mins earlier each day so that we have more time and less rushing. Eventually, I would like to way up at least an hour earlier so I have a little "me" time in the morning as well.
3. NO yelling. I know I yell too much. I hate it. I know it isn't good and I hate the way Taylor starts crying like she is terrified. I hate the fact that she calls the scary dragon monster dean lady from monsters university "mommy" because that is probably what she sees me as. But it is not so easy to stop. The first thing I am going to do (and will most likely be making a post about) is determine my "anger triggers" and then figure out how to avoid them.
4. Let go. I am going to stop the pointless battles over the little things. In the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter if she wants to wear clothes that don't match or if she refuses to wear the really cute new shirt that I just bought her, all that matters is that she is properly clothed.
5. Acknowledge her feelings while still setting limits. One of the biggest reasons young children have tantrums is because they don't know how else to express their feelings so it is important to acknowledge their feelings. (Ie. "I understand you are upset because you want to eat ice cream for dinner"). I have been doing this more lately but I have been making the mistake of usually following this with "but that's the way it is" which invalidates their feelings. I am going to remove the word "but". (ie. "I understand you are upset because you want to eat ice cream instead of carrots for dinner. You are in charge of what you put in your body so you can leave the carrots on your plate") This doesn't mean I will give her ice-cream for dinner but I am acknowledging her displeasure at what I have served for dinner and acknowledging her role of being in charge of what she eats.
I will likely add to this list but these are the major one's to start with to hopefully have a happier family :)