I’m One Mother Flubber

In case you missed this on Shine, our Parenting Guru assignment for March was to write about our greatest parenting flub and how we fixed it or learned from it. Oh, if only I could narrow my mistakes down so easily…

You know how most parents have that one story about the time they royally messed up? I cannot, I mean really cannot, think of my biggest parenting flub. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of them. (So many, in fact, that I started a blog to capture them all.)

Was it the time I sat there frozen—and by frozen I mean yelling at my husband to do something—while my baby boy was choking on a cracker and my friend (who soon thereafter became his godmother) had to run over to help him?

Or was it the time (after time after time) that my son caught me throwing away his lovely artwork from school/church/playdates?

There’s no doubt that discovering at 2 years old my son had picked up some of my more colorful language—and was starting to use it in context enough that I caught it on video—was a doozy (a funny doozy if you ask me, but a doozy nonetheless).

Oh wow, they’re really flooding back now.

You know that friend who saved my son’s life? Well, she probably regretted that a couple years later when he and some other friends decided her daughter—the one with gorgeous long curls—needed her first haircut (a bob) while we were toasting my birthday in the next room.

Did I mention the temper tantrums? Wow, the temper tantrums. (Yes, I’m referring to mine, of course.)

It’s all part of being a first-time parent, right? So the second kid came around and I thought I’d learned from all my mistakes. But I quickly realized that scissors aren’t this kid’s vice. Markers, crayons…heck, any form of writing utensils are. And before I know it, I’m apologizing all over town because he somehow finds them and—quite literally—makes his mark everywhere he goes.

And when crisis struck my little guy in the form of a dog bite, I was no cooler, calmer or more collected.

Yep, I’m an equal opportunity flubber (which explains how in one week I royally screwed up by completely forgetting to register my little guy for preschool and had to go back to kindergarten registration for my big guy—in tears and the pouring rain—after misunderstanding what paperwork was needed).

Believe it or not, I’ve got another baby on the way. Which means I’ll have a whole new collection of flubs to admit. Not because I’m proud of them, but because I’m a big believer in being honest about the ups and downs of motherhood. And no matter how hard I try to live up to my perfectionist hopes for myself, I know I’ll make mistakes. Maybe even some big ones. But as long as they come from a place of love and good intentions, I can live with them. And, of course, apologize for them. Who knows, maybe my kids will even learn some good lessons about life along the way thanks to my shortcomings. (Hey, a girl can dream.)

Have you flubbed this week? Even just a little one? Please let me know I’m not alone…