One of the most helpful things our pediatrician ever told me was in regards to our toddler's eating habits. She said to look at how he eats over the course of a week - not just a meal or a day. So maybe he didn't eat much this meal or is being super picky about what he eats. The mom guilt can attack pretty quickly when I see my son eating the same food again. But if I look outside of the right now and focus on the big picture, I realize he actually is eating pretty well.
I recently was feeling guilty about letting my son watch TV for the second time that day. I had a really bad headache, I was trying to cook dinner for my husband who is on a restrictive diet, and I was just having a crummy pregnancy day - nauseous, tired, and simply feeling like blah. And I started feeling bad about it.
But I stepped back, assessed the situation, and decided I had to let go of the guilt. I may be biased - but we have a pretty great kid. He is sweet, smart, and plays well by himself. He already had one on one time with me, sat contently on our long car ride into town, played outside and socialized with other kids at the gym that morning. It was OKAY that he was watching a show for the second time that day.
Getting through cooking dinner, survival during pregnancy, and simply my mental health is more important that my son watching an extra show TODAY.
Maybe for you it's having a clean house, keeping up with laundry, getting in a social obligation, or fill in the blank here. We can be so hard on ourselves because we are not perfect ALL THE TIME. But maybe if we stepped back, assessed the situation, and looked at ourselves from the big picture we might actually see the truth. That we are making progress. We are a good parent/spouse/friend/etc. Our goals are being met...just maybe a bit slowly.
And that is okay. Maybe even wonderful. And today I choose that over the guilt.
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