I'll be the first one to admit that my parenting [1] has been below mediocre lately — I'd say I'm earning a C-. For starters, our house is currently in an upheaval during a kitchen renovation. So, from not being able to find a single coffee mug to frequently inhaling the dust swirling around our house, the stress is starting to get to me. While I fully understand that home renovations are a blessing and not a problem, I can't help but act like a pain in the ass sometimes. I roll my eyes while stomping down the too-crowded hallways, I whisper swear words [2] under my breath at the constant mess, and worst of all, I lose my temper with my kids.
They need to know that I'm not perfect, and when I mess up or lose my temper, they absolutely deserve an "I'm sorry" from me.
But with each subpar parenting move I make [3], I always make sure to do something else — say sorry [4] to my children. It's not their fault their mother gets stressed out (even though they do test my patience all the time). So, while I know I'm the parent and I need to be the one teaching them lessons about how not to screw up, I don't feel bad or weird for apologising to them [5] on a regular basis. They need to know that I'm not perfect, and when I mess up or lose my temper, they absolutely deserve an "I'm sorry" [6] from me.
By making big and small mistakes, and recognising them to my kids, I hope I'm also teaching them about forgiveness. When they say sorry to me after doing something wrong, I always tell them I forgive them and that I love them. And whenever I say the same to them, their tough shells crack and we all quickly move on. If I never apologise for my own errors [8], my kids won't know how to model that same behaviour. They'll learn that treating people badly has no repercussions. They'll grow into poor teammates, bad classmates, [9] and negative coworkers. And worse, no one will want to stick by their sides.
So, instead of ignoring the fact that I can act like a jerk to my kids, I'll keep saying "I'm sorry" to them whenever I mess up. I'll continue to do my best at this whole parenting thing, even if that means I fail daily [10]. They'll learn that imperfections are just a part of life, and that no one is perfect — not even mom [11].