It Hurts My Mommy Heart

I complain about my kids. Everyone knows that. I think most parents complain about their kids at some point or another. Sometimes, as a parent, we have a bad day and need to vent a little. I do it and completely understand when other people do it.

I even affectionately name call. I call both of them Stinker or StinkyPants when they need a diaper change. I've referred to them as Cranky or said they have their CrankyPants on when they were having a cranky day. That's pretty much as far as I'll take the name calling though.

Recently, I've seen more than one person referring to their children as "assholes," "bitch" and a "little jerk." There was another name but it was pretty specific so I won't mention it here but it and the others really made me cringe. It's not like I've never used those words. I've used those words in reference to people before but never in reference to a child and certainly never in reference to my own child. Hearing or reading someone refer to their child that way just really hurt my "mommy heart."

Do I have bad days? Of course. Do my children drive me crazy some days? You betcha! (make sure you read that with a Sarah Palin accent) Do I vent about them and complain when I'm having a bad day? You're darn right. However, I absolutely draw the line at name calling like that.

Technology is awesome. Except when it's not. For me I have FaceBook, my mom's message board and of course this super nifty blog and they're all great places to vent my frustrations to people who can offer a bit of comfort, advice or some other thing that makes me feel better. While these electronic outlets can be wonderful they can have a huge disadvantage. Once you put something out there you can't get it back. So that day that your toddler flushed your phone down the toilet and then wiped his chocolate covered face all over your couch and you go and blast him on the internet calling him an asshole will be out there forever. Said "asshole" child may even find it on his or her own some day. I can't imagine finding out that my parents had said something like that about me.

The insults that I read earlier that were made in reference to young children (and I do mean YOUNG) just really felt like they socked me in the gut. It also made me realize that I really should be careful when I complain about my own children because even though I'd never refer to them that way I also wouldn't want them to grow up and think that all I ever did was complain when they were bad. I want them to know how much the good things meant to me as well. So I'll definitely make a conscious effort to post more about those things.