Most weeks, through some combination of the grace of God, good karma, and sheer luck, Bryan and I manage to pull-off the "two working parent" gig with something that at least passes for success.Not so last week.
It was bad...like, say, if I had to give myself a parenting "grade" for last week, it would be a big, fat fail. A goose egg. Zip, zero, nada. I won't go into too much (boring) detail, but let's just say there were missed school performances and forgotten school projects and just general suckage.
In fairness it was a particularly frenetic week (at least by first world standards), as I had two consecutive evening work events, Bryan had a training course that had him locked in a conference room from 8-5 each day, and (between both girls) there were three school projects, one Spanish club performance, one pre-k St. Patrick's Day performance, one St. Patrick's day party, one commitment to volunteer on a four-hour field trip to the aquarium and one commitment to read to the class. Wait, that's a lot of boring details, and I said there wouldn't be boring details... Sorry.
I know we all have to contend with this issue of balance, and I definitely know there are so many folks out there that have much, much crazier lives than mine, but I still feel like a massive fail when a week like that happens... So I spent the weekend trying to re-group. The four of us hunkered down and painted rocks and ate ice cream and huddled on the couch watching movies and played in the yard and made occasional forays out into the world together for quick peeks into a shop or two before retreating to our couch fort for more lazy goodness.
By last night (when we were all piled on the couch again yep, watching a movie and eating ice cream) I felt like I was at a B+ again. Doing the best I possibly could and hanging on for dear life.
19 comments:
Those rocks turned out great. As for parenting... Is it even possible to get above a B plus??? I always try, but I'm sure I will scar both kids for life over something!
Thank you for your (boring) honesty. I will NEVER be awarded The Best Parent of the Year Award, but I will surely die trying.
maybe we don't need to give ourselves parenting grades...we all have wonderful successes and not so wonderful successes. a few months ago, we forgot to attend our son's first ukelele recital, in which he was performing with 4 other kids, even though we had rehearsal 2 days earlier. a few weeks later, i dropped my daughter off at a sleep over...with out a sleeping bag or toothbrush or her american girl (the b-day theme). i felt like i was failing until i stopped to look at all the successes...the most important being that my kids are loved, feel love and often respond to each other with love.
ps: family hunkering is possibly the best kind weekend ever, isn't it?
you're an A++ mama in my book.
kellychristine
May the good weeks outweigh the not-so-good. All we can do is try our best, and surely the kids see that, even when we fail. Good that you had a low-key, family weekend at the end of it.
I know EXACTLY what you mean. The two working parent thing is a mess sometimes, but it all works out in the end! Sound like you are doing a great job. My girlies are 5 1/2 and 4 yrs old, so I relate to the stories about your family. Don't apologize for the boring details! Glad you got a good weekend in.
I don't have kids, but I have to say- I am really impressed at how committed you are and by how hard you work at being a great mom. I say: Good on you. You make the best of all of it, and it always shows :-) I don't know how you do it, honestly!
we are our toughest critics, right? loving the gold rocks, those two girls of yours are such amazing little artists!
Joslyn,
Sometimes life gets in the way but being perfect is over-rated. The kids bounce back so don't be so hard on yourself. You did manage to take a few good pics, spend QT with kids on the weekend and I am loving the gold painted rocks!
No such thing as boring details, humanizes us all...
xo
E
http://www.urbanchiqueness.com
P.S. Thought of you this weekend when I pulled out the animal print denim. Go buy yourself a pair of bright skinny jeans to cheer yourself up!
I love the rocks!
Sounds a great family weekend.
oh the rocks look so minimal and beautiful!
Have Uncle T help out! I bet he would love to go on a field trip! He would be great!
You always seem to do everything with such grace and elegance (in blogworld anyway). It's tough to know which of all these schedule things matters and I'm constantly asking older parents about this.
such a lovely boots! :)
Oh My God. That's a lot of activity for two parents to handle. You need at least two grandparents to help out! You two are the coolest, really.
There have been too many camp drop offs at the wrong time, not to mention taking my son to a test for advanced summer camp an hour late, etc. I feel it shows my boys that I'm not perfect and that they can survive those moments. Lately, we've been trying to "scale" problems so that they realize there are very big problems and smaller problems. This doesn't make you a bad parent, it makes you human :)
I love this post because we all have weeks like this!!! And too often we worry that no one else has "general suckage" as you say. Gosh, it certainly happens to me.
Your girls are happy, confident, expressive and seem to totally get it that they are cherished. You get an A, Joslyn.
:)
Gah, this is such a sweet and honest post hunnie. I so know what you mean and I am so glad you felt like you made it back to a B plus. Movies, ice cream, lazing about? awesome. Honestly, most days I feel like I am just hanging on for dear life. :)
xo
Melis
A friend of mine who has 4 kids gave me some good advice once...if the kids make it through the day in one piece then it's been a good day.:-) The rest is icing on the cake. I still don't know how she does it as we struggle with 2 kids but when it gets too crazy I try to remember what she said. That and lots of hugs and kisses all round. As everyone says, we can only do our best.
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