I have a tendency to judge, and the person I judge the most is myself. This has become an issue with regard to my parenting.
Here is an example of what might go through my mind:
Why aren’t I feeding my son more vegetables?
We should have gone to the playground today instead of staying in.
He is cranky, what am I doing wrong?
Is he eating enough?
I should read more to him, then he would be saying more words instead of babbling nonsense words.
He doesn’t hang out with other babies enough.
I have a difficult time stopping my mind and leaving myself alone. I brought this up to my mom. She said the following:
“Ah! These are such typical parent thoughts.”
I asked her what she meant by this and she went on to say:
“No matter what we do as parents, we think we could have done more.”
And it’s true. No matter what I do with my son, I feel as if I could improve upon my parenting. But then again, the fact that I have my parenting skills under a microscope speaks to how much I care about what I am doing with my child. I am utterly aware of my behavior and how it will affect my son.
However, is there a point when this self analysis becomes too much? I think so. At a certain point it seems it would be best to just live in the moment (“the now” as my mom puts it) and just be. It’s okay for our kids to see us how we really are.