“Will my kids end up in counseling because of ME?!?”
Ever find yourself preoccupied with one or more of the following thoughts…
- Will my kid make smart decisions when I’m not around?
- Am I going to mess up my kid?
- Will they be in counseling because of me?
- Do I sound like my mother when I say that?
- Will my son be okay when he’s an adult? Because right now, he walked out of the house without shoes on. And he’s 17!!!
If you answer “YES” to any of the above, the diagnosis is clear…
You’re a parent.
And a pretty normal one at that.
Don’t beat yourself up about it.
Look, it’s okay to worry sometimes. How could you not?
As the author Elizabeth Stone once wrote, “Making the decision to have a child is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”
The challenge with parenting is that we have so very little control over the world, and our kids are out there in it. Watching our kids figure out their lives is enough to produce anxiety in even the most balanced and sane among us.
None of us play the “parenting game” perfectly.
Some things we’ll get right, some things we won’t.
But here’s what I know. The fact that you’re reading this shows how much you care about your kids.
So keep your head up.
Keep doing your best, even when you don’t immediately see the results.
Keep loving that kid of yours, even when he or she drives you crazy.
Keep loving yourself, even when you drive yourself a little crazy.
