Yesterday, one of my kids sure didn’t like me very much. I think you have to be okay with that if you want to do your job as a parent.
I had given this child some leeway on Saturday chores, agreeing that they could do them after snowboarding. It didn’t happen. I reminded this child on Monday that chores had to be done before hanging out. It didn’t happen. So when I came home on Tuesday and this child had left straight from school to hang out with someone who lived 30 minutes away, I called them and said if their chores weren’t done they needed to turn around and come straight home. When I went inside to check, their chores were only partially done.
So I was that mom, the one that made her child drive all the way back home to clean a bathroom, despite the frustration, anger, and pleading of her child, despite the fact that this child is low on money for gas, and despite the fact that I don’t like confrontation and friction. I was that mom that did it anyway.
Before you start thinking that I’m ridiculous and it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal (because it really isn’t about the bathroom being cleaned right at that moment), let me clarify that this particular child has a habit of agreeing to do things later and not following through. This was the end of a long line of broken promises to “do it later.”
I knew it was time I started holding myself accountable for contributing to this behavior. I’m the one that allowed it to happen too many times without consequences. I was tolerating it and showing by my actions that it wasn’t a big deal. I was contributing to the cycle.
So even though this child was very upset, and even though I really didn’t want to be the mean mom, I knew it was the right thing to do. Sometimes your kids aren’t going to like you, and that’s okay.
Work In Progress 