It’s okay to…
…leave your grocery cart half-full and deserted in the store because your child is over-the-top losing it and you just need to LEAVE…
…decide to throw up your arms and plunk yourself down and resign yourself to your kids being LATE to school…or you to your appointment or work or you name it and late is the name of the game today…
…lock the bathroom door for the few minutes you need to be A-L-O-N-E …no matter the LOUD outside the door…
…put your crying baby safely in her crib for the few minutes you need to tend to your totally distraught preschooler or totally-a-wreck SELF.
…pour a bowl of Cheerios for dinner… 
…be thoroughly embarrassed by your child’s behavior at a friend’s house…
…decide to avoid responding to the excitement of your child over something that really hurts your heart or drives you nuts…
…decide TO respond to the excitement of your child over something that really hurts your heart or drives you nuts…and maybe in a not-so-productive-way…but hey, at least you responded.
…let your preschooler dance off to daycare in a ridiculous outfit of his or her choosing…and maybe the same one from yesterday and the day before and the day before and really, it NEEDS to get in the laundry, but…oh well…
…let your child discover what it feels like to get a not-so-wonderful grade on an assignment…rather than work ever-so-hard and frustratingly at getting them to do it “right” and now and finished…
…need help and ask for it…
…pull the car over to the side of the road, get out, and BREATHE while the kids continue to yell and scream and fight in the back seat…
It’s okay.
When you are at your wits end, when you are exhausted, confused, raw, buttons pushed to an extreme, or you name it, it is OKAY to let go and intentionally choose to throw in the towel, yell a bit, walk away for a moment, maybe take what feels like the easy way out.
Giving yourself a break now and again is essential for then re-charging, re-grouping, re-evaluating, and definitely re-connecting. This parenting deal? There IS no perfection. Only a real and honest try at doing better today then we did yesterday.
So today–take care of you so you can take care of your children. Be kind and gentle with yourself and your feelings, for this shows our children how to be with theirs. Maybe there will be a mess to clean up, maybe there will be big tears and slamming doors and real hurt felt.
And now, because you will be better today than yesterday, you can open your arms to all the mess and hurt, gather it in, and truly, authentically, gratefully apologize, re-connect…
…and try again.
That’s all. It’s okay.
Alice
Author and Parent Coach
©2017 Alice Hanscam