I suffer from a terrible disease. There is no cure… what is it called?
THE MOM GUILT!!!
I am pretty sure it is a common thing among moms (and dads). I have heard over and over again people talking about feeling awful when their child wants to play and they can’t for one reason or another.
For me personally it is playing with him when I am on here trying to post something. I hear ” mommy play with me!! PLEASE!” The guilt then ensues immediately and I just want to run upstairs and play with him.
So what’s a mom to do? Well I am most defiantly not an expert but this is what I do to relieve the guilt for at least a little while
- I will (at times) just get up and play with him, because to me there is nothing more important than to show him that work or computer stuff is not more important than he is.
- If I can’t get up to play right away what I will do is tell him that I need X minutes and I will come and play. It doesn’t always work but it can help if they have a time frame
- If it will be a while yet, take a break at X time and just sit and play with them. It will do you some good to get away from work for a while and they will love it!
Now does this mean that you always need to drop everything and go? NOPE! This is where Mom guilt really takes ahold. It is totally against my nature to tell my son I can’t play right now, but it is important that they play on their own too. They need to use their own little imaginations.
I have been tempted to just let them watch TV so that I can relieve that guilt. I justify it with ” at least they are happy and I can get something done without the guilt.” and there are times I will let him (probably more than I want to admit), but they NEED to play on their own by themselves. As hard as it to do for us mom’s sometimes to not run to their rescue every second you need to remember you are a person too and you need your own time whether it is getting work done OR just relaxing a few minutes. They are also people and need to learn to do stuff on their own too or they will never learn it.
So did I cure mom guilt? NOPE but knowing you are not alone with this feeling and maybe taking a few of these pointers will at least make it less (Hopefully).
What do you do to relieve mom guilt?
Twitter: april_golightly
says:
I completely agree. Right now, my puppy tries to lay between me and the computer during the day. It drives me nuts, but he just wants to spend time with me. I am sure it will the same once I have my baby (15 weeks right now).
April Golightly recently posted..A Little Announcement…
Twitter: anddadtoo
says:
If I felt guilt every single time my kids asked me to play or do something I would never be able to live with myself, LOL. My youngest who is 5 is ALWAYS asking for a game, dolls or something. I do play with hr very often but I can’t play with her 24/7. That is where her older brother and sister are for. HAHA.
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LOL! I dont’ relieve my mom guilt. I am so unhelpful aren’t I! My children are always a priority, but I felt like my website was taking too much of my time. But at the same time, the website allows me to provide other things for them. Finding the balance is hard, but last year I think I figured it out with a strict schedule and mostly working three hours a day when my youngest is in 1/2 day school.
Twitter: texastypeamom
says:
Mom guilt gets the best of all of us sometimes. Finding balance is so tough but trying to find a system that works for you is definitely key!
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