Thursday, January 21, 2010

who made me 'mom'?



Some days, I marvel at my skills as a mother. I am not talking in the 'thump my chest and proudly diplay my fabulous parenting abilities' way. I am talking in the 'Oh Lord, what have I taught these poor children NOW' way.
I find it hilarious when my three year old displays his middle finger marred by a hangnail.
I am tut-tutted by a seven year old when I talk 'potty talk' at the table...almost every night.
I change words in songs to "poop", "bum", "boogie", etc.
I attempt to laugh quietly when my son removes his fingers from his bum crack, takes a sniff and promptly chases his sister around the house with said fingers.
I occasionally sneak the last of the halloween candy, nanaimo bars, or coveted snack and then claim ignorance when ask who the offending party may have been.
I use the f-word occasionally often.
Sometimes, if I sit and take score of all these skills socially inacceptable behaviours that my children have learned, I am horrified. I am stunned by my inability to act mature and adult-like. I chide myself for the crap job of showing my little ones "appropriate" behaviour....
But when the next fit of giggles overtakes the three of us as the dog passes wind, I get over it.
Life is short. Life has too few laughs and too many hard lessons. I say "Bring on the poop jokes, pull out the whoopie cushions and use foul language occasionally"....just make sure MY mother doesn't hear!

9 comments:

Mikenzie said...

I've never left you a comment before, but I've followed your blog for some time now. Even though I am not going through your same situation, this post helped me to realize how I want to parent my son. He is only 3 months old now, but instead of only worrying about the "what-if's", I need to work on remembering the "life is short". I want to enjoy my son and I want him to enjoy me. Yes, I will be his parent to make sure he does right, but the rest of the time, to hell with it-we are going to have fun! Thank you for being such an inspiration to me! And in my humble opinion, your kids are very lucky to have you for a momma!

Marissa said...

i adore you. and your parenting. its quite similar to my own afterall.

did i say i adore you, f-bombs, quirks & all... even if you eat things most people wouldn't even think to (i'll let you ponder what i'm talking about for a minute...) ;)

much love to my love.

Mama_Bear_Sarah said...

this was an excellent entry! made me smile. I wholeheartedly agree!!
(only at my house, it IS my mom doing the swearing!!)

Anonymous said...

I always eat all of the candy. In fact, my daughter recently told me that I smell like chocolate all the time, because I eat too much of it. But I NEED that chocolate to make it through my days. Just like I NEED to laugh and occasionally use profanity.

You do what you gotta do to make it out with some semblance of sanity. No matter how immature 'what you gotta do' may be.

Leanne said...

Oh my goodness Jackie - I sit hear reading your blog - I cry and laugh so hard at posts like this one. You are not alone here in the socially inappropriate stuff. We so need to get our socially inappropriate kids together soon! Cheers Leanne

Jen said...

Awesome! Being your authentic self is the best parenting gift you can give your kids. (Do you have the book Walter the Farting Dog? My daughter loves it.)

Unknown said...

Ya right, Jackie.

Your mom is so effing uptight!!!

OXO MOM

PS - Remember she brought you up alone too ... and there were 3 of you.

darcie said...

These are the moments that they will remember Jackie!
And you will too!
The laughs & giggles - the smiles.
I wish I could be there to giggle with you - though I'm not sure I want Briar chasing me around with his stinky fingers! ;)

Supa Dupa Fresh said...

Oh God. I'm using Poop and Pee and Fart all the time, in songs, at bedtime in jokes, now. I've just completely given in.

They should never have let us bring her home from the hospital.

X

Supa