“Es igualita al papá,” most will say when they meet my daughter and realize that her mischievous expressions, accompanied by a cynical laughter, are almost a complete replica of her dad’s. Much to her papi’s delight, Camila loves to tell and be told a good joke and is already on her way to being a very creative prankster.
I, on the other hand, wasn’t born, nor did I ever cultivate, an outwardly funny bone or jokester attitude. I can’t remember a good joke on cue to save my life, and have even had to download kid’s jokes apps just to have a healthy repertoire at hand to impress my girl.
Not only am I not the best at telling jokes, but I’ve found that I also need to learn to stop my frenetic pace and just laugh with my daughter a whole lot more. Lately, my push to be a successful mompreneur has got me on a whirlwind of emotions and a completely unbalanced life that makes me be much more reactive when my daughter is not doing what I ask her or what she’s expected to do. In those moments, her natural laughter and wacky cool attitude turn into the loudest of screams with a stubborn demeanor that sets off my impatience.
Many times, instead of responding calmly and just picking my battles, I try to control or just stop her emotions. It feels like the busier I get with trying to “do it all” and “be it all,” the more impatient and exasperated I become by the little things my beautiful and spirited child does.
I know for sure I’m not alone in feeling this way. No matter if we are stay-at-home, work-at-home, or working moms, we all need a constant reminder that with love and patience we can accomplish a lot more with our children. We know that it’s important to set discipline, but that in order for them to want to comply they need to feel loved and secured.
I would be fooling myself if I said that I could one day become the “perfect” mom because that just doesn’t exist. Just like I can’t hold up Camila to a fragmented standard of perfection, I can’t set myself up for failure either. What I can do, is give myself a reminder that no matter how difficult certain parenting moments can get, in the end every single moment between my daughter and I is an act of love.
If I keep going back to the love and both our needs to be loved, I can stop and laugh more with my daughter. I can eventually turn around those bursts of unwanted behavior into just another cry for love.
That picture of Camila holding up an “I Love You” sign, so easily created with a Hallmark Pics n Props, is just that reminder. I keep it in a special place in our home so I can turn to it when we both need the reassurance of love. All you need is love, right?
Disclosure: We’re working with Hallmark on a series of posts for Mother’s Day for which we’re being compensated. As usual, all stories and opinions are our own.
What an adorable photo! And an early Mother’s Day greeting to you – I enjoyed the honesty and self-reflection in your post.
Ah your daughter is a cutie! Good to hear she has a good sense of humor and likes to LOL. Hope you join in on the laughs and joke more often. Life’s to short, we need more laughs on a daily basis. All you need is love and laughs!!
Hola my friend! I can totally relate. Thanks for sharing your experience, its good to see I’m not the only one that seems to loose it…and after I do I feel terrible. Sometimes we also need to give ourselves a break, we are after all doing the best we can
No? Un abrazote