I grew up in a home where emotions ran higher than the need to love and teach.
Thus, reactive parenting was the only thing I knew going into my parenting journey.
But this served no one and it’s damaging.
So I decided long ago, that I would never be that kind of parent.
My children’s needs are priority over my emotions.
Breaking generational curses and the way I was nurtured has been a constant battle in my life that I am winning. But some days it looks like this…
Yesterday I asked my energy filled daughter to put on her shirt, in her playfulness she whipped me in the eye with the shirt she was bouncing around with. I snapped.
It was not a good parenting moment for me.
If I was living without intention, I would have done nothing after my reaction. I would have told myself, that I’m an imperfect parent and it’s okay.
But it wasn’t.
I sat there and apologized to my 5 year old. With tears in my eyes, I explained that mommy’s make mistakes and that my behavior was unacceptable multiple times until her eyes showed me she understood.
By the end of the interaction, she apologized and all of my daughters and I were hugging talking about how much we love each other even when we make mistakes.
One of the first steps to being an intentional parent is you have to decide the kind of parent you want to be. Make a list of all the character traits you would have if you were the best mom ever and set a goal to be those things every day.
Doing this gives you a goal in your parenting journey vs. doing it blindly with no idea of how you or your kids want to end up.
It’s much easier to reach a destination when you know what that destination is.
