Is it just me or has parenting turned into one big test? It feels like there are new opportunities to stuff it up every day. And as a mother of three, I get triple the opportunity to FAIL.
Don’t get me wrong. I think I score okay on the big picture stuff. I’m patient. I read stories. I sing lullabies. I listen. I care. I label the behaviour and not the child. I cuddle. I try to lead by example. I pick my battles. They know they’re loved unconditionally.
It’s more the day-to-day admin side of parenting that really needs some attention at our place. Here’s an audit of recent events:
1. Banana left in school bag for the entire school holidays. FAIL.
2. Dreadlocks in the four-year-old’s hair. No, not as a fashion statement. FAIL.
3. Under 7’s soccer. Forgot to bring back the man-of-the-match trophy – the one you are only supposed to keep for a week. No trophy for this week’s man-of-the-match. FAIL.
4. Left kids with a babysitter and no instructions on what to cook for dinner. Kids had take away pizza. Again. FAIL.
5. Two tiny dots of green mould on the back of the four-year-old’s ballet leotard, discovered after the ballet class, possibly as a result of being left in a bag with rotten fruit. (See above). FAIL.
6. Fifteen minutes late for the school Easter Hat Parade. Pretty much missed the whole thing. ‘Didn’t you see me darling? I was standing just over there’ FAIL. Oh, and I forgot the camera! FAIL.
7. Fillings in the eight-year-old and six-year-old’s teeth. FAIL.