Because Some Days It Is Hard
I love my children. Deeply. Dearly. And with a profound understanding that I am immensely blessed to be a mother.
That said...
Some days this job is hard. So very hard. Drive me to tears and too much Halloween candy hard. Frankly, today has been one of those days. My sweet Little Diva who can bring such sunshine into the room can also be a terror. She has attention issues that cause great frustration and difficulty with controlling emotional responses. We are working with her and she has been doing better. Most days, that is.
Today, not so much. This day has been a roller coaster of lows and lower lows. It is exhausting physically and beyond exhausting emotionally. I am drained. Drained. Being a parent is a privilege but it is also work. And sometimes, it is hard work. In the trenches fighting for the heart and soul of your child work. It is easy to blow off phrases like "it is the hardest job in the world". As a friend of mine pointed out, no one is shooting at you. This is true. But there are emotional IEDs going off at anytime. And the cost of failure is no less high.
It's okay to say that it is hard.
Mommy Wars, parenting
I am not sharing this to complain. I am sharing it because we need to be able to say it. Parenting is hard and saying that it is hard does not mean I do not love my children. It does not mean I regret being a mother. It means, simply enough, that it is hard.
Years ago, I watched an Oprah episode wherein a mother who made a documentary about the struggles of motherhood was obliterated by the audience. I remember one woman actually stood up crying with anger stating that she had multiple children and it was a snap.
Yes. That was the word she used. “Snap”.
And this was before we were all online all the time! Now sharing less than perfect parenting moments or worse, having the audacity to admit that one does not enjoy every precious moment leaves one exposed to comments ranging from well-intended if unsolicited advice to snide and condescending to downright hateful.
Even as I write this, I know that someone reading it will be judging me. We live in a world where lives are represented by Instagram perfection. I have been guilty of this at times and wrote about it on Travels. Of course, we want to capture the beautiful moments for posterity and not commemorate the real fight that came out of the fun water balloon activity that was being periscoped. But here's the truth, my life is wonderful, not perfect. I have many good days. This is just not one of them.
Today, it is hard.
And it is okay to say it.
Mommy Wars, parenting, Pinterest, be kind
