Wednesday, December 25, 2013

ugly truth time.



i can't be nice for a single day.  seriously.  it was christmas today, and by  the time 4:30 rolled around, i was being an asshole to my kids.  christmas.

every morning, i wake up all covered in good intentions to be an attentive, positive feedback giving, low, pleasant voiced parent.  and by the time i've been parenting for 10 hours, i'm done.  i need the relief squad, and there is none.  so i just keep parenting, but poorly. i tap out, and then i start being ugly.  i let my exasperation and impatience show, on purpose.  i yell about stupid things.  i say 'althea' in a really terrible tone of voice.  i count.  i think constantly about how many more minutes are left until bedtime. it's not nice.  i'm not nice.  and i want to be nice, because i love them.  desperately.

i don't want Althea, or Iliana, to think that I am mad all the time, or that I'm someone you have to be careful not to piss off.  I want to be better.  a better person, a better mother, more patient, more kind, more loving.    I want to not use that shitty voice, the one that says 'you are wearing on my last nerve and i want you to know it'.  i don't want to always be hurrying them rudely out the door.  i don't want to be desperate for a break from them, despite the fact that they are what i love most.  how is that even possible, by the way?  it makes no sense.  but there it is.

i need some strategies.  how do other parents get through to bedtime without feeling like they are breaking down every night?  more days than not by the time i am tucking althea into bed all i want is for it to be over.  and then i realize i am basically shushing my 3 year old, who is trying to tell me something that she thinks is amazing (tonight it was about a type of frog who hatches eggs out of its skin, and she was worried that it would hurt the frog. but them decided that ti would hurt her, but it probably didn't hurt the frog.  i am not making this up.)  anyways, she is in bed, trying to tell me this, and i am more or less telling her to quiet down because i want to be done.  parenting. fail.

it sucks to feel like you are failing at what you are doing with your life.  parenting is what i am doing with my life right now.  and most of the time, i don't feel like i am doing such a bang up job.  a friend of mine recently posted a blog entry from a woman who realized she was overly critical of herself and her children, and took up the mantra 'nothing but love today'.  i need to tattoo this on my arm and go from there.

deep breath.  count to 10.  tomorrow i can wake up covered with good intentions again.

5 comments:

  1. Bring the big trampoline in to the playroom or the basement...? Let them watch another sesame street...? Lower your standards...? Make plans for a girls weekend where you can see my baby bump...?

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  2. Also, I suck every day as a parent, too. And you are an amazing mama! It is the kind of crap, no compliment, no raise job where you could always be doing better. ALWAYS. No matter how good you do. Feed your children only nutritious, gorgeous food. Surround them with loving family. Teach them two languages right out of the womb. Why stop at four books, why not read them five? Why teach them two languages instead of three? Because they are the kind of beautiful, bloodthirsty, amazing, spongy, adorable, little savages who would always take more. Always. And sometimes we have to save a little something for tomorrow. Or even just to take a shower and get ourselves to bed.

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  3. I wish my love for you could make everything better.
    I have done everything you said, honestly. When I haven't done it, I have sometimes thought about it. Sometimes I win the battle. It takes rest and the right balance of coffee and water and time to listen to strangers on the radio without interruption. Or thatis what I tell myself. Anyway, you are not alone. And I love you.

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  4. Wow I feel exactly the same way :(. before I flipped my lid I had to remind myself several times it's Christmas Eve it's Christmas don't do it ,don't be mean. don't be short , mine is only 3 but can light me on fire fast! I'm alone in parenting 5 days a week completely alone and by the time my relief comes I'm totally ready. Your not alone

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  5. I can't stay nice to my husband, let alone if I had kids... And I don't know what to tell you. Small meditation/gratitude break while they're napping in the afternoon? I love you!

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