One of the biggest fears that parents today have is making a mistake. No parent wants to feel like they’ve failed their child and we certainly don’t want to realize that we’ve not been paying enough attention to our children. We want to get feedback from our kids (and others) that we’re being a good parent, that we’re doing our best and that we’re succeeding at our responsibilities.
However, it’s not always that simple.
We all make mistakes in life and that counts for our children too. Even if you feel like you’re personally not making any big mistakes, there’s a good chance that you might be doing something that your child doesn’t look or has a problem with. In cases like this, tougher parenting might seem like a good idea, but it can get to a point where you’re suffocating your child.
Parenting mistakes prevent running from the truth
Many proud and overconfident parents run from the truth all the time. They’ll tell themselves that it’s not their parenting at fault, but their child or other factors. Things like this can happen from time to time. For example, your child might have been exposed to alcohol much earlier than you think, or they could be a lot more rebellious than you think behind your back.
In situations like this, running from the problem will only make it worse and the denial will only hurt your relationship with your child. Instead, you need to focus on accepting the truth that your parenting might have caused the issue. Once you’ve accepted it, you can then look for a service such as a young adult addiction treatment program that will help you recover from your mistakes and also get the help that your child needs to recover.
If you were to ignore the problems your child has, then it can lead to neglect and a false sense of security that will come back to hurt your family in the future.
Parenting mistakes are humbling
If any good comes from a parenting mistake, it’s probably the fact that it’s humbling. If you’re a really proud parent that feels like they’re on top of the world, then making a parenting mistake or two will help you realize that you’ve got a long way to go.
No parent faces zero mistakes during their child’s formative years, and any parent that claims to have done no wrong is clearly delusional. Every parent makes a mistake at some point that helps them understand that their child should be capable of making decisions on their own. We’ll run into situations where our children give us a figurative slap on the face when we realize that we’ve been doing something wrong this whole time.
Good parenting involves learning from your mistakes, and for that to happen you need to encounter a humbling situation. So if you feel down or less important as a parent because of something with your children–cheer up. It’s a humbling experience that teaches you that there are better (or different) ways to do things.
