Is there such a thing as a perfect parent?
You look at some of these blogs and think, ‘how have you got time to organise your kids socks into colour codes when I’m still in my pyjamas mid-afternoon!?’. It’s madness! And can be a bit of a kick in the teeth.
Granted, I’m asking this as I sip my glass of wine, whilst ‘watching’ Isabella play in her play pen (we affectionately refer to this as her prison). Meanwhile Hanna (Mamma) has just wandered off to the kitchen in search of more wine, and most probably a couple of sneaky biscuits. Everyone needs time to unwind though right?
I often get called a great dad, a natural some might say….ok ok, so it’s usually me reassuring myself in the bathroom mirror after some sort of parenting fail, but that still counts, right? The truth is we all make mistakes.
Take what happened yesterday for example. I thought it would be a good idea, and pretty damn cute, to take my wedding ring off and give it to Isabella. I’d tell her all about how mamma and pappa got married, and how as a result of us getting together, she was eventually born. I got no more than 3 words in before she’d shoved it in her mouth and was trying to eat it. A few seconds of chaos ensued as I crammed my finger in, desperately trying to prise open her surprisingly strong jaws, before eventually getting it back. Due to either the shock on my face, the fact she no longer had possession of the ring, or having a finger violently shoved into her mouth, Isabella burst into tears, and my plan was ruined. I’m not totally sure what I was expecting…that she would sit there admiring it whilst nodding along to my story? Maybe she’d even shed a tear at the romance of it all? I mean it was the height of stupidity on my part, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
The reason I’m telling you this is I don’t believe any parent is perfect, and we can’t beat ourselves up about that. It’s a tough job, right? I mean who hasn’t left their child on the bed for a second to grab a nappy from across the room, only to turn around and they’re teetering on the edge? (The speed of these things!?). Who hasn’t looked at their phone whilst supposedly looking after the little one, and turned around to see the cat gnawing on their leg, a look of shock spread across baby’s face? Who hasn’t nearly poked babies eye out with a spoon whilst feeding them? (What’s with all the thrashing around, stay still!!)
So in summary, my point is 3-fold:
- Don’t beat yourself up if any of this has happened to you (and I’m secretly praying it’s happened to someone).
- None of us are perfect at this.
- Sock drawers are meant to be messy.
Tuscan Dad 