You're my favorite...

Ever have those days when you feel like you are not really getting this whole parenting thing?  It seems like they are coming more often then not these days.  There are days when I just sit on the bed and cry for apparently no reason other then sheer frustration.

I have a 4 year old who is still in diapers.  He won't sleep in his own bed... ever.  He is combative.  He doesn't listen... to the point where I will be standing right in front of him saying his name and it is like I'm not even there.  He throws things for no reason.  He is disruptive in school to the point where he has already been kicked out of 1 school.  I have never seen a child his age throw tantrums to the level that he does.  He screams and yells and argues.  He rarely does what you ask to do (or not do) without the need to repeat it 4 or 5 times.  The list goes on...


To add to that, we are in a financial bind due to the fact that I have been the only one consistently working for the past 15 months.  I have 3 cats who, for some reason, feel the need to do their business just outside the litter box instead of in it.  And don't get me started on the cat vomit!  My house is a mess.  I have unfinished projects all over the place.  It always seems like I cannot get ahead.

Yeah... definitely feel like I'm failing at this mommy, wife, and homemaker thing most of the time.

And then, tonight, while we are cuddling on the couch, Marshall says "You're my favorite mommy."

I say "Really?  Because I don't feel like a very good mommy right now."

His response:  "No, you're a good mommy."

And than I have to think of the other times.  The happy and fun times.  The times that all Marshall wants to do is give me a hug.  The time he helped me (sort of) shovel the driveway because daddy was away at reserve duty.  The time we built a snowman.  The time we went to the beach and he played in the ocean for the first time.  The time we took him to Cedar Point for the first time and the happy look on his face while he rode the rides.

It is true what they say... your kids won't remember that your house was a mess all the time.  Or that you didn't get your projects completed.  Or that you aren't gazillionaires.  They will remember the time you spend with them and all the happy and fun times that you have.

You may think you're failing at this parenting thing.  But, to your kids, you're most likely hitting it right out of the ballpark!

~AKO