Dealing With Feelings Of Failure As A Parent

Chances are, if you have children then you have dealt with feelings of failure as a parent.  Most of us aren’t parents for long until we feel like we have done something incorrectly.  We may have feelings of failure as a parent over anything from feeling we didn’t catch our child’s health problem early enough to feeling we disciplined too harshly.

The reality is, as much as we love our children and strive to be a perfect parent, we aren’t.  We are imperfect people and our children are imperfect little people.  All we can each day is the best that we can do.  We are all going to make mistakes in parenting no matter how hard that we try to avoid them.  It would be helpful to all of us and help us to avoid feelings of failure as a parent if we realized we aren’t going to do it right all of the time.  We need to change our goal from perfection to giving each day our best efforts.

Forgive yourself for all of the things that you feel badly about.  Most of the things that give us feelings of failure as a parent are things that we didn’t intentionally do.  Don’t continue to beat yourself up.  If you feel you truly handled a situation poorly with your child and they are old enough you can converse with, it is okay to ask your child for forgiveness.  Not only can it restore your bond but it sets a good example for your child.

Shift your focus to all that you are doing right instead of focusing on your feelings of failure as a parent.  Remind yourself that in spite of your mistakes, you are giving it your best effort and that you love your children deeply.

Image Credit: Sage Discoveries