Reality Check!!

I am sitting here listening to Bailey. She is in the bath and talking to her toys. You can tell a lot about your parenting by listening to your kids talk. Sometimes, like now, I hear the way she talks to her babies and think do I sound like that. I don't want to think so, but I know I do. She tells her baby to do something then gets louder and louder each time her baby doesn't do what she is told. She says "Do you hear me". I'm not a yeller, but I do sound worse than I ever thought I would. I always envisioned myself as being a parent who would handle all situations calmly and rationally. How could I ever get aggravated at a sweet innocent child? Then I became a mom.

Don't get me wrong, I adore my child and I think overall I'm a pretty good mom. I spend lots of time with her and we talk constantly. I tell and show her how much she is loved nonstop, but there are definitely some areas I need to improve on. One of those is the way I handle her when she doesn't obey. I am easily frustrated and then don't handle the situation as I should. I worry all the time about the person I am teaching her to become. I pray God's grace will cover all of my parenting mistakes and somehow highlight the good things that I do.

I guess God is doing that because, I think anyway, Bailey is a wonderful little girl. I am tearing up right now just thinking about her. I definitely need to work on some things and become closer to the mom I always hoped to be. Don't think I'll ever reach the goal, but I will try each day to get closer. I think I'll go now and talk to her about what is going on with the babies in the tub.