You're Not Bad if You're Not the Parent You Thought You'd Be

So...Facebook doesn't hate me. The "showing up in peoples' newsfeeds" problem has been solved, and it had a little something to do with someone being a little stupid with their privacy settings.

I'm not going to say who, but it was a nice person who does, in fact, have a brain. Despite convincing evidence to the contrary. My text to Tyler from Wednesday afternoon:



Oh, Debra! You're so silly!

Trust me, I don't share half of my screw-ups. Not even a quarter of them. Have you ever seen one of these signs?


I came up with my own version last month.



I hit 31 days today, with the help of my kids ("Mommy, is this a blowup?). The goal is 100 days. Blowups are not just yelling, mind you, although I try to curb that as well. I'm talking about when Mom is legit scary.

I went walking with my friend Christine this morning and we were talking about the Holocaust, and Syria right now, and the disturbing banality of evil. We stay-at-home moms are a barrel of laughs!

I told her the only thing that made me feel better when those thoughts got me down was service. Which is true. I started talking about raising money for Syrian refugees and getting my kids involved and yadda yadda, and she just tossed off this statement.

"Or just be nicer to our kids."

Holy friggin' clouds parting. Because that's the very first place you should start when you think about how to be a force for good in the world, with the people right around you. It's the toughest place, too. It's a lot easier to give five bucks.



So the boys got some extra swing time this morning. Thanks, Christine! 

Comments

  1. You know - I love this because all I can think of right now is how ridiculous everything about my life is when compared to the suffering that is going on elsewhere. So yes - I am going to start by just plain being nicer. To everyone.

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