First off I want to say that I believe that moms of young kids (birth to the beginning of kindergarten) have the most difficult job in the world. They are at the mercy of their children when it comes to sleep, exercise, eating and taking a shower. Their job is 24-7 with rarely a bathroom break, let alone vacation.
As I look back, those were the most difficult, the most tiring, the most stressful parenting years so far.
So, as you read what follows, please keep what is stated above, in mind.
When generations before me, were moms of young children, and we had one of those days, we would debrief with another mom, our hubbies, or our own moms. That debriefing was, and is, an important survival tactic when our children are young. We need to talk it out, seek solutions and maybe even simply gripe about our really bad, horrible, no good day, so as to purge it from within ourselves. That is a good thing.
The moms of today have another means of debriefing from the difficulties of child rearing … social media, and, specifically, FaceBook.
The exception of a bad day (or week, or ever phase) can lead us to seek the easiest methods of getting the tension, the frustration and the heartache out of our systems, and FaceBook can be that quick and easy method of purging.
Unfortunately, what is easy to forget, when we are posting our frustrations with our kids (or husbands, or other family members, or bosses) is that what we post today, is forever in print.
Let me repeat that:
what we post today, is forever in print.
Imagine your now cranky toddler, one day a grown teen/adult searching your name on the web … what words will they see, written by mom (or dad) about them? What message will they receive? What legacy are you leaving them?
Please know, I KNOW how difficult parenting can be, especially in those years of vomit, toilet training, items being flushed down the toilet, sleepless nights, bad attitudes, and embarrassing things repeated back to just the wrong person at just the wrong time. But, moms (dads), do we want our temporary frustrations to draw a word picture of how we feel about our kids to be interpreted by our child when they are adolescent? teen? young adult Psychology student (now that is pressure)?
You’ve got the most difficult job in the world, but I know you don’t want the temporary frustrations of today to shadow the beautiful relationships with your kids in years to come … that’s the prize for the struggles of today 😉
May those of you, who are struggling in the trenches today, have someone you can call, text, email or private message, to unpack the frustrations you feel. And may you know that it really doesn’t last forever!
itsawonderfilledlife 