Sometimes I wish I was as wise as I was before I had kids. I remember rushing to my journal as a teenager and writing down all the ways my parents didn’t know what they were doing and how I would do things differently when I had kids. Even as an adult, I’d see unruly kids at the grocery store and I’d think to myself, “My kids will never get away with that kind of behavior.” But now that I’m a parent, I’m realizing that I do a lot of things that I swore I’d never do before I had kids. Here are just a few of the things I used to say.
“I’ll never say, ‘Because I said so.’, I’ll always have a reason ready.”
I was really passionate about this one before I had kids. I thought every child deserved to have a reason for what they were being made to do (or not do) and I swore I’d never just say, “Because I said so.” Well. Try reasoning with a three year old. It doesn’t happen. Explaining your decisions to a child that lacks the ability to think logically is a waste of time. Because mom says so is enough to get him to stop asking “Whyyyyy?”, so it’s enough for me. Sorry, teenage Kristen. You were wrong.
“I’ll never let my kid run around naked.”
Hahahahahahahahahaha. That’s all I have to say about that.
“I’ll never use TV as a babysitter.”
I’m only slightly ashamed to admit that I’ve often used Disney Jr. as a way to sneak in a shower. Yes, I could wake up earlier, or hope that both kids nap at the same time, but really, who am I kidding? 25 minutes of Jake and the Neverland Pirates is worth a hot shower and shaved legs.
“I’ll never let my kid get away with a public temper tantrum.”
Isn’t it so funny how optimistic and naive we can be before we have our own little offspring? If there were a way to control temper tantrums, I’m pretty sure we’d never see them. But alas, kids are crazy and sometimes all you can do is wait the tantrum out and ignore the snickers and eye rolls. Their day will come…their day will come.
“I’ll never use my kids as an excuse to get out of going somewhere.”
I can’t even count the number of times I’ve done this. Kids are a great excuse to get out something you really don’t want to do or seeing people you really don’t want to see. There’s no shame in it. They’ll never know. That’s why God gave us babies, isn’t it? To avoid unwanted social interaction?
So what about you? What did you say you’d never do as a mom?
I love this! How true these are. 🙂
Haha! Total truth here 🙂
Every. Single. One.
Yes!
Yes, these are great! I remember thinking the same thoughts pre-baby and as a moody teenager. I wrote about it too! (http://www.pearlsonastring.com/2014/06/16/what-did-you-swear-youd-never-do-as-a-parent/).
Thanks for sharing!
Lesleigh
pearls on a string
I always said I would never let my son sleep with me. “He has his own room for a reason”. Ha! My child sleeps with me every night. Not only was I tired of being woken up every night at 1 or 2 am for him to crawl in bed with me – because I am too tired to keep taking him back to his room and calming him down every night – he won’t sleep in my bed forever. He will eventually grow out of it. So to the old me that said I would NEVER allow that, never say never!!
So agree with these!
I thought would never clean my kids faces with my own spit. Until they start complaining about it, I’m going to keep doing it, LOL! It’s just so much convenient if there is no water nearby.
Ha ha so true!
I read recently that this entitled generation gets things explained too much. The fact that less parents are using “because I said so” and instead giving a list of reasons our kids are feeling like they have a leg in the fight when it comes to a conversation they somewhat understand. Like they’re negotiating. We hear it come out as sass mouth but really they’re using the artillery we’ve provided. So if you’ll say one reason or one “because I said so” you’re kids will be much better off.
Yes to “Because I said so!” My kids were born tiny attorneys, ready to argue any flippin’ thing.
Isn’t that the truth!!! 🙂