"Bad Mom" Moments

There's a thread on the SMC Forum right now, where moms are sharing their "bad mom" moments, and examples of when they've been an imperfect mom.

I LOVE IT. It's been so incredibly helpful to read everyone's entries on this topic. Here's what I posted in the thread...


Oh, I love, love, love this thread!

As someone who's expecting her first baby in a short less-than-three-months, reading these posts has been absolutely *priceless*.

I can't tell you how often I've read the forum and thought to myself, "Wow, these women are amazing, doing all that they do, all by themselves... Can I really do this? *Should* I really be doing this? I'm just not sure I'm like all these other women, who have it so together and who juggle so much...".

It's not that I think anyone is "perfect", exactly, just maybe more cut out for this single mom thing than I am. But this thread has been SO HELPFUL in helping me realize that we all have our faults, and our "bad mom" moments, and I'm not really any more likely to have MORE of them than anyone else.

I have "bad mom" moments with my dog, when I get so frustrated with her and yell at her, and then I think, "Holy $h!t, if I'm like this with my dog, am I going to be like this with my child, too?!?". But I'm starting to see that it's ok. It really is. We're only human, and we're not perfect - not a single one of us. So, when (not if) I have my "bad mom" moments, which I know I will, I'm going to try to remember this post, and that we ALL have our "bad mom" moments, and hopefully be able to feel a little better about it.


P.S. I work in a pediatric emergency department, and I'm here to tell you that the staff really doesn't judge parents who come in with a child who fell and break a bone or got a laceration or whatever when they turned around for a minute. The only people who get "judged" (and it's really more a medical, we-have-a-duty-to-make-sure-this-child-is-safe kind of thing), is when the injury and the story don't match up, and there's suspicion of abuse or true neglect. Just thought that might make some of you feel better, who feel so guilty when you end up in the emergency department... Most things really ARE just accidents!!