#parrenting

I’m new to tumblr. I wanted to find a space to share my thoughts on being a father, husband, son and professional without the judgement of friends and family on Facebook or get suckered into using twitter where terrible people exist to shame and belittle (also I have like 5 followers whom I assume are Russian bots). 

My first thought I would like to share is about parenting. Yesterday I caught myself getting angry at my son about rubbing his lips. My son is 4 and a great kid. I know all parents think that BUT I know I’m right! He’s smart, funny, handsome, kind, sweet and full of love and wonder about everything and everyone. My son has had really chapped lips and redness around his mouth and continues to get worse by him rubbing and licking his lips. I snapped at him yesterday because he rubbed his lips after I asked him to stop. I raised my voice at him and told him that his lips will never get better if he keeps doing that and that if I caught him doing it again he’d be in trouble.

On the surface, pretty harmless... but i’m sitting here at my computer and the thought of that interaction came into my head. We all try our best to be the best parents we can be, which is hard because every kid is different and every parent was raised with their own parents who have fucked up somehow along the way also. My thought was this, I love my son so much! I want him to be the best man he could possibly be (far better than I am). So at every turn I feel like I am constantly correcting him or try to use every situation as a learning moment but am I doing the right thing? Shouldn’t kids get red rashes on their faces? Shouldn’t kids hide markers behind their backs when you catch them writing on your notebook? Shouldn’t kids make mistakes and just be kids?

Those moments happen all the time. From eating slow to not eating at all. From crying in moment of fear that we just don’t understand to wanting to finish the Troll movie but can’t because it’s bedtime.

My take away is this...

As a parent YOU ARE GOING TO DO THE WRONG THING and so are your kids. If you’re constantly battling on trying to make your child the best they can be and miss out on them being kids you may grow old and regret it. And that is one battle i’m not willing to lose.

This is one of the 1,000,000,00 thoughts I stew about in my head constantly. Trying to better myself as all of the things I want to be for my kids, my wife, my family, and in my professional career. 

I thought writing about it and sharing my experience with others might help with anxiety I struggle with sometimes (which is a story for another time).

I hope you thought this was an interesting read and follow for more.

My best friend just informed me that her 5 year old son walked into her room to sit down and watch Doctor Who with her. She looked at him and asked if he liked it, he replied with "Yeah, it's not scary at all!"