Things have been a little topsy turvey in the Suburbs this week. My sweet Granny is in the hospital and I catch my breath every time the phone rings. There has been a minimum of one activity per child, per night, and an hour of homework to match. My #LoveMyHouseReno is done, I’m exhausted but can see the light at the end of the tunnel. There are just not enough hours in the day!
For me, all this extra stress and worry means I can’t sleep, so I add extra coffee to get through the day. Extra coffee means I don’t sleep well. It’s a wicked cycle. In true Sassy Style I don’t do the logical thing, slow down and catch my breath. I ramp it up and keep going! That is until I crash, and this is what I did just a couple of nights ago, in a big bad way. Yup, this week, in my brand new kitchen, I demonstrated just how much I can truly suck.
Let me set the scene. In just over two weeks time this little family is taking off to Mexico for a week. We have plans for even more tropical adventures in the months to follow. So after some thorough investigation, and discussion with our Doctor, SassyHubby and I decided a family dosing of Durkoral was a good idea. Dukoral is an oral vaccine that provides you with protection against travellers’ diarrhea.
I made a trip to the pharmacy, whipped our my credit card and purchased the peace of mind vaccine, times four. After the evenings activities of dinner, homework and sports, then another check on Granny, we stirred up our little chemistry experiments and invited our two girls to join us in a little anti- diarrhea cocktail. Oh we thought we were so funny. The girls, they did not. How awful of us to expect them to drink 150ml of this nasty crud? Why were we doing this to them? They hated it! It was gross! They didn’t want to. We were such horrible parents!
photo credit: Google Image
WTH?? I went from scratching my head, to shaking my head, to full blown out anger. I reached my breaking point, loudly declaring end of discussion and telling my spoiled kids to drink the damn drinks and enough with the whining. It was not my finest parenting moment.
Did they drink their stupid drink? One did. The other gagged and then relented. Am I proud of my behaviour? Absolutely not. Would I like a do over. Oh God, yes please. Why am I spilling my guts to all of you? Not to ask for forgiveness for losing my cool with my kids. (I’ve already done this with both of my girls and remarkably they both apologised to me! They know I have their best interest at heart and should have just done as they were told) I guess I’m just putting it out there to once again say. There is no such thing as a perfect parent. You never know what is going on behind closed doors, and we are all doing the best we can. Sometimes we have fabulous parenting days, and sometimes, we suck. The goal must be for the good to always out weigh the bad, and to love each other always and no matter what. Go give your babies a hug, go tell your Parents and Grandparents you love them, and then give yourself a break. It’s never too late to start the day again.
It seems that you had a stressful few days, which we are all entitled to, as, well as the minor breakdowns we may have that come with them.
Aw it sounds like you were pretty stressed out, and with good reason. I hope things get a bit better so that you can relax a bit more. In the meantime, try not to be so hard on yourself. Hugs.
On an aside, I also hate taking Dukoral!
I’ve never heard of this concoction….but I TOO would have done it in your position; right down to the yelling.
Wishing Granny all the best. XOXO
Oh how refreshing to hear an honest account of being a parent! Sharing our successes and our mishaps helps us all to realize we are normal and trying our best everyday. Thanks for making me feel normal this week! Hope things get better in the suburbs! 🙂
I am SO happy I helped your feel normal this week:) You are so right, if more of us would share our mishaps, it might just take some of that pressure off to “be perfect”! Life really isn’t perfect, and us Mama’s have to cut ourselves some slack!
You did the right thing.. It was a few minutes of ‘torture’ for them NOW instead of a day of spending their holiday in the bathroom instead of having fun! I think everyone eventually will reach a breaking point – especially with other stressers in your life! Don’t beat yourself up!
Sending healing vibes to your gran! (l)
First off, prayers being sent for your Granny. I’ve been in your shoes and it’s oh so stressful and heartbreaking.
Thanks for sharing your parenting woes. We’ve all been there. I had a meltdown at the party store last week. I’d been up since 3 am to catch a flight home and had taken the kids to get costumes and they just stood there staring. Neither knew what they wanted to be and I was all, “You knew we were going today! How can you NOT know???” Much drama ensued!
Everyone has a breaking point and it looks like you’ve been through a lot lately. Don’t be so hard on yourself. I have 4 year old that has a speech delay who just started JK who I keep getting called by the school to come pick him up early because he’s crying or some other issue. AND I have a 13 week old son I’m dealing with too. I am running on hardly any sleep and am stressed a lot because besides my husband’s help, I have no other help. His family doesn’t live in Toronto and my mother doesn’t drive and complains when I ask for a hand so it’s easier if I just do it all myself. So if I lash out once in a while, so be it. I’m only human and I’m doing the best I can. I know I’m a good mom. But I really need a day off soon! LOL!
Firstly I hope your grandmother will be okay. Second, you are so right, there is no such thing as a ‘perfect parent’, having good days and bad days makes you human, and spilling it for us, makes us all feel better because we are there with you.
Not a one of us is perfect and we’ve all had times where we’ve lost it. BUT the best example of parenting? You apologized to your girls and with that taught them a valuable lesson – that even parents make mistakes and good parents own up to their mistakes.
Keeping your granny in my thoughts!
You nailed it. No such thing as perfect parenting, no matter how it might appear. We are all human and we all have our breaking points! Ah, the tropical vacation will make things feel so much better!
Thank you!! No point in pretending we are perfect, better just to embrace the good days and the bad and keep on smiling 🙂
I’ve never heard of Durkoral but it sounds like a great idea. So did you get any side effects from drinking it. I have had way to many of those kind of outbursts over the years. They can come pretty natural to me! Don’t beat yourself up over it. Keeping your grandmother in my prayers.
Hello! Not a single side effect from the Dukoral from any of us. This is the second time Hubby and I have used the oral vaccine in 5 years, if nothing else it provides a certain piece of mind:)
Thanks for the prayers for my Granny..much appreciated.
Stress can cause us all to have moments that we suck and wish we can have a do over. Take a deep breath….soon you will be on that sandy beach and it will all be worth it.
You are so right, stress does bring out some of those “we suck” moments. Deep breaths and hugs from the family do help. Thanks 🙂
smiles. i agree…none are perfect…and they will understand when montezuma comes to visit if they did not drink it…ha
LOL Yes, truly no thing as a perfect parent. The funny thing is if they had any idea how miserable that Montezuma can be, they would be asking for seconds of the lovely drink!
I love that you put yourself out there in such an honest way. It’s so refreshing!
Sending positive thoughts and prayers for your Granny and safe travels.
I find so often on TV, books, or even just chatting with girlfriends over coffee we feel the need to only tell the “good” stuff. Life isn’t always perfect and us Mama’s just need to cut ourselves some slack!
Thanks for the prayers for my Granny..
Oh I do hope Granny is doing much better:) Good parents indeed:) poor kids having to prep for a terrible trip like that:) B
Oh yes my poor girls. lol One day they will thank me for putting their health ahead of their tempers 🙂
Thanks for the kind thoughts for my Grandmother