For years, I questioned my parenting skills and I wondered if I would ever be a great mom. After all, I was pregnant with my 1st child, Gabi, at 19-years-old. As a single mom, I went into the military to be able to take care of the both of us.
Seven years later, I was a married and on bed-rest. From there, I was a stay-at-home mom for several years. My kids went from homeschooling to public school and back to private school. I was my kids’ Girl Scout troop leader, cheer coach, soccer/football team mom and the list goes on. I truly believed that if I did all of this, my kids would be awesome and not get into stuff like I did.
Well, when our oldest daughter was a teenager, I found out she was cutting (Google it—this is still very painful for me to talk about.) A year later, she was arrested and sent to jail for theft at her mall job; she was a few months out of high school and a few from shipping out in the Navy.
After this, she decided to live with several boyfriends and their mamas (I promise she was raised in church) as well as with the neighbor across the street (She paid them rent, cooked and cleaned the house, y’all!!!) Then I found out via Facebook that she was married. Talk about a blow to your mothering self-esteem.
Eight years later, I found myself dealing with bad grades, a bad attitude, more cutting and yes, even a fight video (I almost had a nervous break-down from that – BUT GOD!!!) I actually stayed away from social media any time report cards were issued because I felt like an utter and complete failure. I blamed myself for my both of my daughters’ poor choices.
Saturday, my 16-year-old daughter had an opportunity to hang with friends. I knew she was looking forward to hanging out with her friends since this was the first time she has all As and 2 Bs since 5th grade. Instead of going to the movies with them, she searched the mall for a gift for me….
It took everything within me not to have an emotional breakdown when she gave it to me. She hugged me! She thanked me for being a great mom to her. So, I encourage you to trust that God is faithful! I am finally seeing the results of what I put into my kids.
I now know that, “Yes, I am a Great Mom!”
mom and dad. Our role would be that of an assistant, alongside their parents. We never liked the words “step kids” or “step parents”. To us, it indicated they were the outsider and no one wants to feel like an outsider, right?
Since he is taller than me now, he is always asking can he grab something for me from the top shelf in the pantry or in the linen closet. He now asks to wash my car or even make me a snack when he sees me working late into the night on my business. He recently started adding alarms on my cell phone to remind me to get up and go to the gym as well as alarms to unplug for the night, to read a book, or to get some sleep.