If you've decided to read this, then you are more than likely a parent or about to become one!! Congratulations on your future bundle all the way to the grown child that you still reach out to check up on every week!
From the moment that you felt that first kick, or signed those foster/adoption papers, you made a choice, you made a decision to love and put something so precious before yourself. Having a child/children is such a beautiful thing. It's an adventure equated to a roller coaster with uphill moments where you feel on top of the world, and then a fast turn that brings you to a sudden drop, where after you lay your little ones down, you just need to run a bath and cry silently so as not to wake anyone. No one said that it would be easy, or always fun, and you have every right to sometimes be happy, to sometimes jump for joy, and to sometimes just be tired and exhausted.
As a matter of fact, if you weren't, I'd be more concerned about you. The definition of exhausted; is being drained of one's physical or mental resources, very tired. This means that you are clearly doing something right. You have exerted yourself to a point of exhaustion, from working extra hours to pay for that dance class. Cleaning the house for the 1000th time that day because your little one is too small to fully understand how to properly put their toys away, or cooking that favorite meal for the family, even when ordering take out would have been so much easier!
Sometimes as parents we have a tendency to feel guilty, when we are just too tired to make it to the birthday party that week. Or this month the tire blew and needed to be replaced and we can't afford to send our child on that fun vacation that their friends are going on. We feel bad when we feel that we can't be perfect for our loved ones. I would like to challenge this guilt and thought process! I believe that it is good for our children to sometimes see us struggle and watch us and learn how to deal with real world situations, so they realize that in life there are obstacles to overcome. It is good for children to see that sometimes we have to make a choice. Something that is fun and cool is not always the most important thing in our lives that need to be dealt with. It is great for them to see that some families live with these decisions every day and that's why it's important for compassion and understanding. Don't feel guilty over these moments, embrace them and use them as genuine teaching moments. These are lessons they may not learn in school, but they are so vital to understand.
There will be days that you need to have that cup of coffee by yourself at the bookstore, moments when you need to go to the gym and bench-press 100 pounds to get it all off your chest. Tired that night.?... Order the take-out, cry until you fall asleep, allow yourself to be fully exhausted and have no regrets! You my dear, are raising the future, and that's a lot of hard work!
Whatever you do, do it Oh So Lovely and have a great rest of the week!! -Angel-