Am I a bad mom?
I have never breastfed any of my children, they were all bottlefed (and circumcised). I work full time. I use pacifiers and car seats. I buy disposable diapers and wash my children’s clothes with my own. I wash bottles in a sink full of soapy water and I do not sterilize them. I let my 2 year old watch 30 minutes of TV a day. My children eat McDonald’s once a month and I do not buy organic food. I feed my seven month old jarred baby food. And I do not allow my children to sleep in my bed and they have learned to go to sleep in their own beds by crying it out (and so far they have no long term psychological problems or resentment towards me and my husband). After reading all of the answers to some of the parenting questions you would think CPS would need to be called and my children should be taken away. Anyone else do the same?
Did it say somewhere in this paragraph that I was lacking joy in my life?
Kids survive all kinds of stuff.
I think that some people strive to just be ‘good enough’ as parents until it’s over, while others strive to take it on as a challenge, researching & learning & doing the best they can during the short time they have before the children are grown.
It’s just different ways of going about it.
I think that, in comparison to some parents & some parenting practices, you’re trying a little harder, while in comparison to others, you are just getting by.
I did lots of the ‘good parent’ things that you are sarcastically deriding here – co-sleep, breastfed, didn’t circ, cloth diapered, etc. But, we let the kids watch much more TV than you do and, for a while there, went to McD’s once a week (on the way home from the children’s museum, though).
You might find more joy in your life if you stop worrying about where you are in comparison to others & just try to do what makes you feel like you’re doing what you feel is important with your own life.
Edit – no, you don’t mention joy or your lack of it specifically, but you did actually ask this question, “Am I a bad mom?”.
Organic Baby Food, Organic Baby, Organic Baby Clothes
