Admit One
I took the kids to the doctor yesterday. She is an AWESOME doctor, and I love her to pieces. But let's do some quick math, shall we?
3 kids + 6 booster shots + 1 mom = (insert swear word here)
Yeah. I'm sure you understand. But that's not the worst part. Aside from the fact that my little darlins were stuck with metal rods in the thigh while I held them down, there's also the fact that I left the doctor's office with the wrong kids.
Yup. I'm sure of it.
See, I went in there with 3 healthy, perfect kids, (a credit to their mother's excellent parenting skills). I left there with one kid with a lazy eye, one kid overweight and one with flat feet.
We're practically a circus-freakshow now. I should charge admission for people to come see my gimped-up, horribly neglected, badly parented kids. (Am I taking this personally? NO!!! *jumps off cliff*)
I guess I feel a little stupid for not noticing these things and having the doctor (very gently) point them out to me. I always figured if they're not running a fever/throwing up/bleeding, BONUS! To me, the chunkiness was really "cute baby fat", and the flat feet were really "chubby baby feet" and the lazy eye was...well, honestly...I didn't see it until the doctor pointed it out. She said it was very mild, but STILL, you'd think I'd have noticed, right?
There's nothing like a nice cuppa guilt, early in the morning!
posted by Franny @ 9:48 PM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
Guilt is BAD for you Franny - stop that self-blame this second!
Flat feet - not your fault, nothing you could have done anyway, not going to ruin the child's life or anything.
Lazy eye - not your fault, nothing you could have done, likely to be observed for ages anyway.
Overweight - well, it's easy to keep thinking your child will slim down as they grow, because mostly kids do. My oldest did, my youngest hasn't - well, hasn't enough and is actually probably overweight, too. SIGH.
You know, it was really interesting to read this post from the point of view of the poor mother (that would be YOU!), because I bet your doctor had no idea you took this all so to heart, blaming yourself for each problem. Now I will be mindful to ensure parents realise they should not expect themselves to have noticed everything I may detect.(that sentence is *really* awkward, but I can't figure out a better way to write it!!)
Hope your week gets better and you throw that cuppa guilt down the drain :)
Frannie, we who love you, hereby declare this is "Mother's No-Guilt Week" just for you. Repeat after all of us, "It's not my fault." And, listen to Jellyhead. She's a doctor and has all the answers.
Now if you want something to feel guilty about, just wait until your kids get old enough to say everything is your fault, i.e., you didn't make enough money to give me everything all the other kids have or you didn't allow me to do all the things all the other kids were (allegedly) allowed to do even if they got into trouble doing them. Once you hear this from your darling children, then you can feel guilt and self-doubt about your parenting skills. I know because I'm an expert in this field. With my oldest age 37, I'm still trying to reconcile this tripe out of his mouth vs. all the things I actually did for him over the years. Now, that's disheartening and gives parents a great deal of middle-aged angst.
Yay - 2 posts in 2 days :)
I can't add much else - but good call from Jellyhead!
I totally agree with Jellyhead. Do you think the kids noticed these things and were silently wondering why you hadn't? No way! I've seen those three in action. They're happy happy happy! And really what else can you ask for in this life?
Take that cup, empty out the guilt, and pour in some hot chocolate. Cause really that's all cups are meant for.
Hi Franny! I enjoy reading your blog, and have commented as "anonymous" a couple of times. I am hereby advertising my own blog which I just created today, in case you or anyone else want to have a browse.
About your kids, the Creator made us perfect according to Him, and I am for one, sick of hearing how every little oddity is an imperfection. We are not Greek statues! We do not want to become clones! I know a boxer and martial artist with flat feet, a good science teacher with a wandering eye, and lots of people who have lost weight and gained weight and lost weight and gained weight . . . hey, we mothers can only do our best.
yeah, don't blame yourself for all this stuff....i am sure you are absolutely correct.....your children are perfectly healthy
which of us can walk around with no faults whatsoever
and Motherkitty, you just about gave me a heart attack. I thought for a split second you were talking about me, and though we have been through rough times, i do not recall ever saying those things to you....
anyway, don't all of us moms live with enough guilt...mom, you should give yours up.....not much you can do about anything but the future now...and you can't change the past.....just because someone implies something bad about you, it doesn't mean it is true
(sorry everyone, had to interject that for my mom, motherkitty....she has been way too hard on herself my whole life)
OMG Taking three kids to the doc's for shots... I'm breaking out in a cold sweat just thinking about it. I have to lie down for a sec.
Okay, better now.
Jellyhead is absolutely right. You listen to her! You (and your kids) are doing a-okay.
Welcome back. :)
-velvet
Stop feeling guilty. You can't detect every little thing otherwise you'd be the doctor. Your kids are fine.
You have such an amazingly funny way of telling us the normal goings on in your life and I can't wait to read your stories when your kids are in their teens. The spin you put on your stories is hilarious.
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