Hi Everyone!
So, it's been a while since I've shared some parenting thoughts here on the blog. I thought I'd try posting something on Sunday's for a while, and see how it goes.
This week, I have to admit, I failed a little at parenting. Not catastrophically...not call the social workers fail; but I definitely missed the mark a little in more than one area. Where did I go wrong? Well, let's talk about it, shall we?
1. I allowed technology to teach my daughter, instead of making her learn the process herself. This particular failure is my biggest one this week. I have a daughter, who is a junior in high school and is taking some advanced classes this semester. It's her first time taking these classes and without any study halls this year, her course load is pretty heavy with a lot of work to do in the evening. I came to realize that I have not done a good job as her mom to teach her how to prioritize and time manage; skills that she desperately needs in order to balance and succeed with the work she has. One night this week, she had a lot of advanced bio and math. As I was helping her with her math at 12:30am, she said I'm just going to use this app I have and get the answers so I can be done with this and go to bed. Exhausted as well, I said ok, because you know...12:30 am....
Anyhow, fast forward the next day to the quiz she had to take, which she didn't do well on because she had not actually learned the processes that she needed to know. I realized that she had been using that app way too much. It also took time away from her bio studies, so she didn't do well on her first test in that either. So, from an academic standing we both had big ol' misses this week!
2. I Missed Back to School Night. I really have no excuse for this, except well... It was just so much nicer and more comfortable on my balcony with my wine. Now, let me clear, this was a parent's only night...not the open house night with the kids. This event was for my youngest son, who is at the older end of the elementary school journey as a fifth grader this week. I'll admit, there was a big part of me that allowed myself to use the excuse of "really? How much can I learn? He's my third kid to go through the 5th grade. I make sure he gets to school every day, with his homework completed, he reads 30 minutes every day and he loves to do the 5th grade frenzy learning games on my iPad in the evenings. Still, when he came home with all the papers I missed from the event, including a letter he had written; and pretty blank paper for me to return a letter to him, I realized I really should have fulfilled this request for my presence.
3. I Let the Freezer Be the Meal Planner. If it was in a box in the freezer and could be microwaved, or cooked for 12-15 minutes in the oven, we pretty much had it for dinner this week. Hot pockets, pizza, chicken tenders, and more. This is especially pathetic given the amount of time I spent online (Pinterest, Facebook, Stumbleupon) looking at recipes! I try to cook as healthy and as often as I can for my family; but you know, there are just weeks when I just can't find the motivation! This seems to be more the case when the big guy (that would be dad) isn't home for supper. He was out of town on business this week, and I lost all sense of nutrition necessity for my children!
4. More Alone Time Than Together Time. There were more closed doors upstairs throughout the evening than time spent together as a family. It's easy to just let the evening slip away especially after getting done with laundry, kitchen dishes, homework help etc. We all need some wind down time, right?! We just may have had a little too much this week! Sometimes I find it amazing how easily time slips away when I fall down the rabbit hole of the iPads, video games, crafting etc. It seems this week I would I sit down around 7:30 after dinner and dishes etc with the intention of playing a game or doing something fun with the kids "in just a few minutes"; and the next thing I knew it was 9:30 and I'm telling the kids to get ready for bed! I don't know that I could even claim the usual excuse of "not enough hours in a day" There was plenty of time; but priorities were definitely skewed this week.
As you can see, it isn't a long list; but I definitely see things I need to improve and lessons that can be learned from the week. The week wasn't all failure either. We did spend time walking the dog together in the evening, the kids all met new friend in the neighborhood; and I got just about all the laundry done! Sometimes little victories are all we need as moms to just keep doing what we do. Parenting is a continuous learning process for sure. If you ever think you're done learning and growing as a parent, then you've probably done something really wrong along the way. I decided a long time ago that if being a mom is what I was going to do...if that was going to be my "job" in life, then I was going to do the very best I could at it. I hope to improve and learn from this week. My first task? Menu planning....
Have a great Sunday everyone! Be with your family, enjoy the little moments together because they really do add up to be big moments in life!
