SOL: Hypocritical Mom

There are so many things that I swore I would never do when I had kids. Prior to having kids and knowing anything about it, I was very judgmental of parents. I worked at a daycare for a few years while I was pursuing my master’s and I remember always looking at the parents and thinking to myself or even talking to another one of my young friend employees about all the things I would not do like these parents were doing when I had my own kids. Boy was I totally wrong!

Fast forward like 8 years later, here I am with a almost 3 year old and I don’t to this day remember all of the different things I had said that I would never do that when I had a kid, but I can tell you one thing that I remember very specifically that I am 100% guilty of and at the time I did not understand it and I did not get why parents would do this and how dare they! Their poor kids!

HA! What a serious hypocrite I am now, or what an uneducated about parenting I was then! Anyway, the one thing that I remember always was when parents came in with their pajamas on or on a day when we knew most companies were closed, or they came way later than their normal time, knowing that these parents were not working that day. My thoughts were always “these lazy parents! Don’t want to have their kids on the days that they have off! How cruel! What bad parents they must be!”

Such a poor judgement on my part and that was really due to obviously never having a child and not knowing what it was like to never have time to yourself, ever. But it makes me think about the fact that being younger and having no children, you pass judgement on parents, especially if you work in the field of education, without even knowing what it is like to be at home 24/7/365 all the time with no break ever.

I really look back on this moment and think about what a hypocrite that I am now because I will take Hailey to daycare whether I am off from work or not. I will either bring her in late if I am off or pick her up early, but I have realized that to keep her home with me with no other kids to play with, it is not the best learning experience for her all of the time. For instance, in the summer, as a teacher, I have off all summer long. But to keep her home all summer long with just me is kind of insane. She will have no kids to play with – I don’t have many friends that I can have play dates with and she will get bored! And of course I would go insane, but still, she wouldn’t have that much fun! I now see how hard it is also to get errands done with a child as well. I can’t leave the grocery store or Target without buying a toy for her – and she does not want a inexpensive toy, she wants a BIG toy! Then there is just to have time for yourself. Sometimes even moms or dads need a break.

So this is my big apology to the parents that during my youth I judged incredibly wrong. I know exactly why you did it and what it is like now!

 

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