A mother’s love is forever. A mother’s like is for….sometimes?! I am a normal, run of the mill, thirty year old mum. And, I dislike my child today. It is a brave thing to acknowledge, and, if we are honest, is a confession many of us can relate to as we stagger down the parenting road.
My son pinched another child in school. Sitting with a heavy heart in the too-small classroom chair I talked to his disappointed teachers. It is the second time this week. We are talking with him about using his words to speak instead of his hands. When we got home I asked him to sit with me and write a ‘sorry letter’. To give him time to process and reflect. To offer a positive way to move forwards. (In my youth I would have been put in the shed.) Sadly I don’t have a shed.
Diving to the floor my little boy screamed his opposition. Threw his snack at me. There is bread roll stuck on the ceiling. Check out our cleaning tips for family homes.
He is hard to like right now.
Obviously I recognized he was angry (the snarling gave it away). Time for mummy to model good behaviour. I got down to his level (noticed I need to clean the floor) and in a calm voice asked him to get up. Avoiding detailing the lengthy narrative with an irrational five year old let’s just say Mummy was firm and patient. She cross-breathed through her nose. Mummy deserves a large glass of wine.
My son chose to lay on the floor hysterical for 40 minutes and I left him to it.
Can we put children on eBay?
Whispering ‘I don’t like my child’ on the phone to my mother the words barely formed on my tongue. Lack of sleep and the constancy of parenthood can wear you down emotionally. Guilt settled heavily on my shoulders. This may not sound appropriately sunshine and rainbows. Or very parental. But I was taught not to tell lies, and this lie would do he, and I, no good.
Is it just me?
Do I hear the quietly spoken accusation, ‘If you were a good mother your child wouldn’t behave like this and you wouldn’t feel this way?’
I AM a good mother, I am just not a perfect mother. She is fiction.
No family is ‘happily ever after’ every minute of the day. Do you like your littles when they don’t listen, draw on the walls, flush your I phone down the toilet and scream at you?
Is it the child we don’t like or their behaviour? I look down and my hysterical, snot covered offspring. It is hard to tell right now. I stop and sigh. He is not evil, not the devil incarnate. Do I like what he is doing right now? Hell no. But I am his mother, it is my responsibility to manage this behaviour. To manage my response and my feelings.
So I put four Jaffa cakes in my mouth in one go and secretly comfort eat in the cupboard. TAKE A DEEP BREATH. Avoid comparing your child to other children. That sweet little girl from next door, she bites and eats potpourri.
Parenting is imperfection, joy, sorrow and a thousand feelings in-between.
Finding the ‘like’.
Our kids are not always hideous (sometimes they are asleep). They are sometimes frustrated, anxious, going through one of the many cognitive, emotional or social developmental spikes. They may really REALLY want that bowl of ice cream you selfishly won’t give them.
Children are also very perceptive. Don’t tell them they are ‘naughty’, because naughty is how he will see themselves and that little label will shape them. Don’t lie unless it is a good lie. Our littles, with their fragile, complex, superhero caped self-esteem need to know and feel that we like and love them. Even when we want to leave them on the bus.
Your child does not have to like YOU every minute.
A little voice shouts from downstairs, ‘I am getting attacked by zombies.’ The little shuffle shuffle of feet find their way upstairs and a blotchy red eyed little boy says, ‘I am ready to say sorry.’
Gently I take his hand and lead him downstairs, praising him.
This is sometime out of a day, it is not all day every day. If you are struggling to positively connect with your child. Or do not like parenting, for you and little’s wellbeing, talk to someone. It’s ok.
Later I crawled next to my boy in his little bed as he slept. Gathered him in my arms and whispered, ‘I love you’. Two little arms held me back. We both needed stolen moment in the half-light.
Love is more powerful than like.
I will love him for always.
I like him some days.
If you enjoyed this post why don’t you check out Nighttime With Kids. ‘Mummy I’m Going To Poo In My Onesie.’ AGAIN!
